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SRONZE)   GROUP.     (Page  207.) 


THE 


CHICAGO  MASSACRE  OF  1812 


WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS  AND  HISTORICAL  DOCUMENTS 


BY 

JOSEPH  KIRKLAND 
H 

AUTHOR  OF   "THE  STORY  OF   CHICAGO,"    "  ZURY,   THE   MEANEST   JAN 

IN   SPRING   COVNTY,"    "THE    MC  YEYS,    AN    EPISODL," 

"THE  CAPTAIN  OF   COMPANY  K,"  ETC. 


CHICAGO 

THE  DIBBLE  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

334  DEARBORN  STREET 


Esst 

C53K6 


Copyright  : 
joseph  kirkland. 

1893. 


LIBBY  &  SHERWOOD  PRINTING  CO. 
CHICAGO. 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE. 

History  is  not  a  snap-shot.  Events  happen,  and  the 
true  record  of  them  follows  at  a  distance.  Sometimes 
the  early  report  is  too  voluminous,  and  it  takes  time  to 
reduce  it  to  truth  by  a  winnowing  process  that  divides 
chaff  from  grain.  This  has  been  the  case  regarding 
every  great  modern  battle.  Sometimes,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  event  was  obscure  and  became  important 
through  the  rise  of  other,  later  conditions;  in  which  case, 
instead  of  winnowing,  the  historian  sets  himself  to  glean- 
ing the  field  and  making  his  grist  out  of  scattered  bits  of 
its  fruitage.  This  has  been  the  case  regarding  the  Chi- 
cago massacre  of  1812 

It  was  only  a  skirmish  and  a  slaughter,  involving  the 
loss  of  three  score  lives.  But  those  dead  men,  women 
and  children  were  the  fore-runners  of  all  the  dwellers  in 
one  of  the  greatest  cities  of  Christendom,  the  renowned 
city  of  Chicago. 

Up  to  less  than  twenty  years  ago  it  was  thought — by 
the  few  who  gave  the  matter  any  thought — that  next  to 
nothing  could  ever  be  found  out  concerning  the  events  which 
took  place  in  and  about  Fort  Dearborn — now  Chicago — 
on  August  15,  1812,  and  the  time  immediately  before  and 
after  that  day.  All  that  was  then  known  was  contained 
in  the  artless,  non-historic  narrative  contained  in  Mrs. 
Kinzie's  amusing  and  delightful  story  of  her  own  adven- 
tures (1831-1833),  into  which  she  wove,  as  a  mere  episode, 
the  scattered  reminiscences  of  members  of  her  family  who 
had  taken  part  in  the  tragedy  of  twenty  years  before. 

But  in  1 88 1,  ten  years  after  the  Great  Fire  had  wiped 
out  all  old  Chicago,  and  all  records  of  older  Chicago,  the 
Historical  Society  happily  took  up  the  task  of  erecting  a 

5 


6  author's  preface. 

"  massacre  memorial  tablet  "  on  the  ground  where  Fort 
Dearborn  had  stood.  William  M.  Hoyt  generously  gave 
the  necessary  money,  and  the  Hon.  John  Wentworth 
ably  and  devotedly  set  himself  about  gathering,  from  all 
over  the  land,  every  item  which  could  be  gleaned  to 
throw  light  on  the  dark  and  dreadful  event.  How  well 
he  succeeded  is  shown  by  his  book,  "  Fort  Dearborn," 
published  by  the  Fergus  Printing  Company  as  number  16 
in  its  admirable  Historical  Series;  a  collection  of  pamphlets 
which  should  form  part  of  every  library  in  the  city. 

Exhaustive  as  was  Mr.  Went  worth's  research,  yet 
the  last  word  had  not  been  said.  There  was — and  is — still 
living,  the  Hon.  Darius  Heald,  son  of  the  Captain 
(Nathan)  Heald  who  commanded  the  whites  on  the  fatal 
day,  and  who,  with  his  wife,  was  sorely  wounded  in  the 
fray.  The  son  had  heard,  a  hundred  times,  his  parents' 
story  of  the  massacre;  and  his  repetition  of  that  story, 
taken  down  in  short-hand  from  his  own  lips,  forms  the 
main  part  of  the  strictly  new  matter  I  offer  in  this  book. 

Much  of  the  contents  of  the  following  pages,  which 
has  been  published  before,  is  not  marked  as  quotation,  for 
the  reason  that  it  is  my  own  writing,  having  been  in- 
cluded in  my  "Story  of  Chicago,"  published  by  the 
same  house  which  publishes  this  book.  (Many  of  the 
illustrations  are  also  taken  from  this  same  source.)  On 
the  other  hand,  much  that  is  marked  in  quotation 
is  also  my  own  work;  but  as  it  is  part  of  my  contribution 
toMunsell  &  Company 's  large  "History  of  Chicago' '  which 
is  still  in  press,  credit  is  invariably  given  to  the  last- 
named  work. 

All  I  could  find,  on  this  fascinating  theme,  I  have  faith- 
fully recorded.  If  a  later  gleaner  shall  find  more,  no 
one  will  be  more  glad  than  will  I,  to  welcome  it. 

Joseph  Kirkland. 


The  Chicago  Massacre  of  1 512. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


PART  I.  J   *  \  \  \ J  /  .*  • 

Saturday,  August  Fifteenth,  1812. 

Scene  at  dawn  ;  page  19  : — Mothers  and  children  ;  Captain  Wells 
and  his  Miamis  ;  his  niece,  Rebekah  Heald  ;  why  he  blackened  his 
face  ;  the  Dead  March  ;  the  Fort  cattle  ;  Indian  follies  ;  20  : — Mar- 
garet Helm,  the  authority  for  Mrs.'Kinzie's  narrative  in  Wau-Bun ; 
21  : — Ensign  Ronan's  insubordination  ;  Rebekah  Heald's  version 
as  reported  by  her  son,  Darius  ;  22  : — Evacuation  of  the  fort ;  Cap- 
tain Heald's  force  ;  Kinzie  family  ;  they  take  boat ;  23  : — To-pee- 
nee-be's  warning  ;  line  of  march  ;  24  : — Pottowatomie  "escort  ;" 
25  : — Wau-Buu  narrative  begins  ;  the  attack  ;  27  : — Surgeon  Van 
Voorhees  ;  28  : — Black  Partridge  rescues  Mrs.  Helm ;  scene  por- 
trayed in  bronze  group  ;  29  : — John  Kinzie  reports  safety  of  Lieu- 
tenant Helm  ;  Captain  Wells's  scalp  ;  Indians  are  kind  to  Mrs. 
Helm;  she  learns  details  of  the  struggle  ;  a  squaw  tortures  a  wound- 
ed soldier  ;  30  :  —  English  blamed  for  Indian  alliance  ;  Mrs. 
Heald's  narrative  begins  ;  similar  to  Mrs.  Helm's  ;  the  sand-ridges; 
31  : — Captain  Wells  orders  and  leads  the  charges ;  the  battle  thus 
foolishly  lost ;  signal  for  surrender  ;  32  : — The  twelve  militia-men  ; 
Captain  Heald's  wound;  33  : — Mrs.  Heald's  six  wounds;  particu- 
lars of  Wells's  death  ;  Indians  cut  out  his  heart  and  eat  it ;  34  : — 
"  Epeconier  !"  ;  his  noble  self-sacrifice  ;  relics  in  the  Calumet  Club; 
35  : — Mrs.  Heald  fights  for  her  blanket  ;  36  : — Stripped  of  her  jew- 
elry ;  what  became  of  it  ;  articles  redeemed  and  still  in  existence  ; 
37  : — Chandonnais  saves  the  Healds'  lives  ;  wrounded  prisoners  tor- 
tured to  death  ;  38  : — Fatal  blot  on  the  Indian  race  ;  Mrs.  Helm's 
report  goes  on  at  second  hand  ;  variance  with  Captain  Heald's  ; 
39  : — The  latter  casts  no  slurs  ;  40  : — One  Indian  kills  twelve  chil- 
dren in  the  baggage-wagon  ;  Mrs.  Helm's  incredible  account  of 
Wells's  death ;    41 :— True-seeming  tale  of  the  Kiuzies'  escape  ; 

7 


b  TABL3  OF  CONTENTS. 

doubtful  statement  about  Mrs.  Heald ;  42  :— Kinzies  again  in  the 
old  house  ;  Indians  burn  the  fort ;  they  guard  the  Kinzies  ,  Wabash 
hostiles  come  ;  44  : — Peril  and  panic  ;  45  : — Saved  by  Billy  Cald- 
well, the  Sauganash  ;  46  : — Sukey  Corbin's  fate,  as  told  by  Mrs. 
Jouett ,  48  : — Possibility  that  a  narrative  by  lieutenant  Helm  may 
exist ,  Indian  traits  ;  49  : — What  is  next  to  be  shown  ;  50. 


PART  II. 


HOW   THE    FORT   AND    CITY   WERE    BEGUN    AND    WHO    WERE    THE 
BEGINNERS 

Chapter  I.  The  Dark  Before  the  Dawn. — The  French 
period  reluctantly  passed  over  ;  Chicago  reappears  in  1778,  after 
100  years  of  oblivion  ;  J.  B.  Pointe  de  Saible  ;  53  : — Various  spell- 
ings of  Chicago  ;  meaning  of  the  word  ;  54  : — Treaty  of  1795;  build- 
ing of  the  "Old  Kinzie  House"  in  1778  ;  55  : — Who  was  here  then  ? 
Astor  fortunes  ;  56  : — 50,000  square  miles  of  solitude  ;  Gurdon  Hub- 
bard's observations  in  1816;  Ouillemette,  now  Wilmette;  Gen.  Dear- 
born orders  the  fort  built ;  57  : — John  Whistler's  company,  of  the 
First  Infantry  comes  in  1804  and  builds  it ;  John  Whistler  ;  58  : — The 
schooner  Tracy  arrives,  the  '  'big  canoe  with  wings;"  the  account 
given,  in  1875,  by  Mrs.  Wliistler ;  the  pioneer,  John  Kinzie,  ar- 
rives in  1804  ;  60  : — State  of  things  for  the  next  eight  years  ; 
61: — Charles  Jouett ;  62: — Joe  Battles  and  Alexander  Robinson; 
the  Indians  and  Indian  traders;  whisky;  Munsell's  History  of 
Chicago;  63. 

Chapter  II.  Building  of  the  First  Fort  Dearborn. — 
William  Wells  is  here  in  1803  ;  65  : — Signs  an  Indian  trader's 
license  as  Governor  Harrison's  agent ;  Captain  Anderson  comes 
down  from  "  Mill-wack-ie"  in  1804  ;  what  the  fort  was  like  ;  66  : — 
Agency  House  ;  67  : — How  the  Chicagoans  passed  their  time  ;  War 
Department  records  of  Fort  Dearborn,  furnished  in  1881  by  Sec- 
retary-of-War  Lincoln  to  John  Wentworth  ;  68  : — In  1811  Captain 
Nathan  Heald  marries  Rebekah  Wells ;  wild  wedding  journey  ; 
69: — Gay  winter  for  the  bride;  John  Kinzie  kills  John  Lalime  in 
self-defence ;  70 : — Double  murder  by  Indians  at  Lee's  place 
(Hardscrabble),  on  the  South  Branch  ;  71  :— Graphic  narrative  in 
Wau-Bun  ;  72  : — Man  and  boy  escape  and  spread  the  alarm  ;  74  : — 
Captain  Heald  tells  tli2  story  ;   Iadian  traits  ;  75. 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS.  9 

Chapter  III.  English  and  Indian  Savages. — Capt.  Hcald 
is  inclined  to  charge  the  Hardscrabble  massacre  to  the  Win- 
uebagoes  ;  British  alliance  with  Indians  characterized  ;  77 — Itsun- 
soldierly  results  ;  ruin  of  brave  General  Hull ;  78  : — Shame  to  Lord 
Liverpool's  government ;  "Suppose  Russia  should  instigate  a  Sepoy 
rebellion  ;"  wild  alarm  follows  the  Lee  murders  ,  79  : — Munsell's 
history  of  it;  war  declared  ;  80: — Hull  sends  Winuemeg  with  or- 
ders to  Heald  to  evacuate  Fort  Dearborn  and  fall  back  on  Detroit , 
Mackinaw  had  already  been  taken ;  wording  of  Hull's  order  dif- 
ferently given  by  Captain  Heald  and  Mrs.  Helm  ;  81  : — The  latter 
finds  fault  with  the  former  ;  alleges  want  of  harmony  in  the  fort ; 
83  :— Mrs.  Heald  denies  this,  alleging  that  Rouan  thought  highly 
of  his  captain  ;  the  stammering  soldier  ;  83  : — comparative  authen- 
ticity of  the  two  narratives  ;  how  the  Heald  story  comes  to  be  told 
now  for  the  first  time  ;  84. 

Chapter  IV.  A  Long  Farewell.  —  Departure  not  favored 
by  sub-officers  ;  soldier  suggests  "jerked  beef;"  85: — Heald's  let- 
ter of  Nov.  7,  1812,  regarding  the  withdrawal;  Wau-Bun  to  the 
contrary  ;  alleged  disorder  ;  86  : — Captain  Heald's  traits  ;  87  : — 
Heald  and  Kinzie  have  a  pow-wow  with  the  Indians;  consult  be- 
tween themselves  ;  agree  to  distribute  goods,  but  destroy  arms  and 
whisky;  Kinzie's  liquors;  plan  carried  out;  88: — William  Wells 
to  the  rescue  ;  scene  of  his  arrival ;  89  : — Baseless  hopes  aroused  ; 
Black  Partridge  gives  up  his  medal ;  90  : — This  meant  war  ;  then 
what  should  have  been  done  ?  92  : — Mrs.  Heald's  story  of  the  prep- 
arations ;  93  :—  Surroundings  then  and  now  ;  94-96: — Saturday 
having  been  already  described,  the  story  skips  from  Friday  to  Sun- 
day ;  96. 

Chapter  V.  Fate  oe  the  Fugitives. — Every  word  treas- 
ured ;  97  : — Heald's  escape  while  wounded  are  being  tortured  ;  in- 
cidents of  canoe-travel  ;  omission  of  record  of  halt  on  the  St.  Jo- 
seph's ;  kindness  of  commandant  at  Mackinaw  ;  98  :— Push  on  to 
Detroit,  Buffalo,  Pittsburg,  and  so  on  home,  to  Louisville  ,  meeting 
with  Mrs.  Heald's  father  ;  unfortunate  loss  of  her  written  story  ; 
99  : — Wau-Bun  story;  Sergeant  Griffith  and  To-pee-nee-be;  Kinzies 
are  taken  to  Chief  Robinson  at  St  Joseph's,  and  later  to  Detroit  ; 
John  Kinzie  tries  to  save  his  property  ;  100  : — Friendly  Indians 
helped  by  Thomas  Forsyth  to  rescue  Lieut.  Helm  and  send  him  to 
Detroit ;  sent  on  as  prisoners  to  Fort  George,  Niagara  ;  incivility 
atoned  for  by  Col.  Sheaffe  ;  the  Helms  reach  their  home  and 
friends ;  102  : — Mrs.  Helm's  remarks  about  Captain   Heald  ;  pris- 


10  TABLB   OF   CONTENTS. 

oners  and  citizens,  scattered  among  the  Indians,  are  alleged  to  be 
generally  ransomed;  103: — Fate  of  Mrs.  Burns  and  baby;  child  seen 
in  after  years  by  Mrs.  Kinzie  ;  fate  of  the  Lee  family  ;  Black  Part- 
ridge wants  to  marry  the  widow;  the  young  raccoon;  104: — Madame 
du  Pin  ;  Naunongee  and  Sergeant  Hays  kill  each  other  ;  106. 

Chapter  VI.  John  Kinzie's  Captivity. — America  never  a 
military  nation  ;  gloomy  opening  of  1813  ;  early  losses  and  later 
gains ;  107  : — Prisoners  ransomed  in  Detroit ;  Kinzies  try  to  help 
the  helpless ;  108  : —John  Kinzie  suspected  of  spying;  repeatedly 
arrested  by  the  English  and  released  by  the  Indians ;  ironed  and 
imprisoned  ;  109  : — Catches  a  glimpse  of  Perry's  victory  on  Lake 
Brie;  sent  on  to  Quebec;  110: — Strange  release;  returns  to  De- 
troit, where,  with  Kee-po-tah,  he  welcomes  Gen.  Harrison  ;  112. 

Chapter  VII.  Contemporaneous  Reports.  —  Progress  of 
the  press  since  1812  ;  Niles'  Weekly  Register  our  main  authority  ; 
113 : — First  published  statement  of  the  massacre  ;  the  schooner 
Queen  Charlotte ;  114  : — Absurd  story  regarding  Mrs.  Helm  ; 
115  : — Still  more  absurd  story,  signed  Walter  Jordan  ;  116  : — Pos- 
sible leaven  of  truth  ;  117  : — Nine  survivors  reported  arrived  at 
Plattsburgh  from  Quebec  ;  118  :— Familiar  names  ;  harrowing  tales 
they  told  ;  119  :— Pitiable  fate  of  Mrs.  Neads  and  her  child ,  Kin- 
zie family  return  to  Chicago,  where  the  bones  of  the  massacre  vic- 
tims are  buried  by  the  soldiers  sent  to  build  the  new  fort  ;  120  : — 
Letter  from  Fernando  Jones ;  121  :— Solution  of  the  Indian  prob- 
lem treated  ;  122  : — Present  condition  of  the  Pottowatomies  ;  123  : — 
Wonderful  progress  in  five  generations;  speculations  concerning 
the  renewed  interest  in  these  old  tales  ;  124  :— Sculptured  memen- 
toes of  the  past  slowly  being  provided  by  public-spirited  citizens  ; 
Lambert  Tree,  Martin  Ryerson  and  Eli  Bates  ;  George  M.  Pull- 
man's splendid  bronze  group  of  the  massacre  ;  126  :— Eugene  Hall's 
verses  at  the  unveiling  of  the  Block-house  Tablet  in  1881. 


APPENDIX. 

A.  PoiNTE  DE  Saibi^e. — First  settler,  100  years  after  Mar- 
quette etc.;  133:— Col.  de  Peyster  mentions  him  in  1778  in  bis 
"Miscellanies,"  Burns's  verses  to  De  Peyster;  134: — De  P.  also 
mentions  George  Rogers  Clark,  135:— De  P's  verses;  136: — Elis 
foot-uotes,  naming  Chicago ;  what  is  known  about  De  Saible  ; 
137  : — E.  G.  Mason's  remarks  about  him  ami  Shaubena  ;  138  — 
Perish  Grignon  (Wis.  Hist.  Soc.  Collection)  on  the  Srime  subject ; 
139 :— Guesses  as  to  the  character  and  fortunes  of  De  Saible  ; 
140  : — ''■Point  de  Sable,"  no  sand. 

B.  Fort  Dearborn  Records  at  Washington  — Probable 
reason  why  records  are  scanty  ;  143  : — Letter  from  Gen.  Dearborn, 
Secretary  of  War  ;  statement  compiled  from  the  adjutant-general's 
records  ;  memorandum  of  the  destruction  ;  order  for  rebuilding ; 
successive  commanders  ;  evacuation  of  1823  ;  144  : — Re-occupation 
in  1828  ;  Major  Whistler  ordered  to  Fort  Dearborn  ;  final  evacua- 
tion in  1836 ;  145  : — Demolition  of  fort  in  1856  ;  old  paper  found, 
dating  from  first  fort ;  familiar  names  ;  146  : — One  building  sur- 
vived until  the  great  fire  of  1871  ;  the  Waubansa  stone  ;  147  : — 
Daniel  Webster  speaks  from  its  summit ;  its  later  vicissitudes  ; 
148  : — Who  were  the  victims  of  Aug.  15,  1812  ?  Oblivion  the  usual 
fate  of  martyrs  ;  149  : — Muster  and  pay-roll  of  1810,  the  last  now 
existing  ;  150. 

C  The  Whistler  Family. — Gardner's  Military  Dictionary 
gives  items  of  old  John  Whistler,  the  Burgoyue  soldier  ;  suggestion 
that  in  Heald's  place  he  might  have  avoided  the  disaster  ;  his  de- 
scendants ;  Mrs.  William  Whistler  and  her  daughter,  Gwenthlean 
Whistler  Kinzie  ;  Mrs.  General  Sheridan;  153  :— Mrs.  Whistler's 
visit  to  Chicago  in  1875  ,  154  : — Her  reminiscences  ;  155  : — Whistler 
descendants  in  the  army  ;  156. 

I>.  The  Kinzie  Family.— John  Kinzie's  origin  and  youth  ; 
157  : — The  Forsyths  ,  Blanchard's  story  of  the  McKenzie  girls  ; 
158: — Margaret,  mother  of  some  Kinzies  and  some  Halls;  Eliza- 
beth, mother  of  some  Clarks  and  some  Clybourus  ;  160  : — The 
bend  sinister ;  John  marries  Eleanor  (Lytle)  McKillip  and  conies 
to  Chicago  ;  161  : — Extent  of  his  trade  ;  his  continued  relations 
with  Detroit  ;  162  : — His  daughter-in-law,  Juliette  (Magill)  Kinzie, 
writer  of  Wau-Bun  ,  return  after  the  massacre  ;  163  :— His  losses  ; 

11 


12  TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 

pathetic  letter  to  his  sou,  John  Harris  Kinzie  ;  164  : — His  papers 
burned  in  1871 ;  165  : — Inestimable  services  as  treaty-maker ;  their 
partial  recognition  in  treaty  of  1828  ;  165  : — His  hospitality  ;  166  : — 
Visit  of  Gov.  Cass  ;  167  :— Winnebago  scare  ;  168  :— End  of  the  old 
pioneer  ;  Hubbard's  narrative  of  his  closing  moments  ;  169  : — Dis- 
appearance of  the  ancient  mansion  ;  170  :— Mrs.  Nellie  Kinzie  Gor- 
don ;  171: — Heroic  death  in  battle  of  John  Harris  Kinzie,  Jr.; 
172. 

E.  The  Weels  and  the  Heaed  Families. — William  Wells's 
captivity  among  the  Indians  ;  Wa-nan-ga-peth,  daughter  of  Me- 
che-kan-nah-qua,  and  her  Wells  descendants  ;  173  : — William  fight- 
iug  on  the  Indians'  side ;  Rebekah  (Wells)  Heald's  story  of  her 
reclamation  of  her  "Indian  uncle;"  174: — His  parting  with  his 
red  father-in-law  ;  later  history  of  Me-che-kan-nah-qua,  or  L/ittle 
Turtle ;  his  presentation  to  Washington  ;  175  : — Rebekah  meets 
Nathan  Heald  at  Fort  Wayne;  176: — A.  H.  Kdwards's  anecdotes 
about  Captain  Wells  ;  177  : — Family  feeling  of  Wells's  descend- 
ants ;  the  Heald  massacre  relics  shown  ;  179  : — Masonic  record  of 
Nathan  Heald  ;  his  letter  of  Oct.  13,  1812,  reporting  the  massacre  ; 
180  :—  Letter  on  official  business,  May  18,  1812  ;  181  :— Remarks 
thereon  ;  182  : — Death  of  his  niece,  Mrs.  Edwards,  while  this  book 
is  printing  ;  183. 

F.  John  Lalime. — Portents  of  the  massacre  ;  rivalry  between 
government  and  civilian  traders  ;  185  : — Factions  in  the  garrison  ; 
traits  of  John  Lalime  ;  186  : — His  letters  ;  retort  of  Main  Poc  ;  Miss 
Noke-no-qua  ;  187  : — Lalime's  attack  on  John  Kinzie  ;  Gurdon 
Hubbard's  letter  about  it  ;  Victoire  (Mirandeau)  Porthier's  story  ; 
189  : — Garrison  acquits  Kinzie  but  buries  Lalime  in  sight  of  the  old 
house  ;  190  : — Discovery  of  a  skeleton  in  1891  ;  191  : — Reasons  for 
thinking  it  that  of  Lalime  ;  192  : — Facts  learned  from  Fernando 
Jones,  Judge  Blodgett,  Hon.  John  C.  Haines  and  others  ;  St.  James' 
church-yard  ;  193  :  — Letters  from  Fernando  Jones,  Hon.  John  C. 
Haines  and  Doctors  Hosmer  and  Freer  ;  194-195. 

G.  Reminiscences  of  A.  H.  Edwards. — Letter  to  John 
Wentworth  ;  story  of  a  girl  who  was  one  of  the  scalped  children  ; 
bare  spot  on  her  head  ;  197  : — She  the  daughter  of  John  Cooper 
who  is  named  iu  the  muster-roll ;  198  : — Married  a  Detroiter  named 
Farnum  ;  199. 

II.  Biley  Caedwelx,  the  Sauganash.  —  His  traits,  good 
and  bad  ;  201  : — He  and  Shabonee  write  a  letter  about  General 
Harrison  ;  202. 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS.  13 

1.  Farewell  War-Dance  of  the  Indians.— Treaty  of  1833; 
Latrobe's  impressions  of  Chicago  ;  203  : — Ex-Chief-Justice  Caton 
describes  the  war  dauce  ;  205  : — "  Farewell  Indians  !  "  206. 

K.  The  Bronze  Memoriae  Group.— Where  the  massacre 
occurred  ;  cumulative  testimony  identifying  the  spot ;  letters  from 
Mrs.  Henry  W.  King,  Isaac  N.  Arnold,  A.  J.  Galloway,  Mrs.  Mary 
Clark  Williams,  and  Robert  G.  Clarke  ;  207-210  :— The  design  of 
the  group,  and  the  designer,  Carl  Rohl-Smith  :  lucky  chance  gives 
two  savages,  "  Kicking  Bear  "  and  "  Short  Bull,"  to  serve  as  mod- 
els for  the  figures  ;  characteristic  bearing  of  the  savage  models  ; 
bas-reliefs  for  pedestal,  the  fort  interior,  the  evacuation,  the  fight, 
death  of  Captain  Wells;  dedicatory  inscription;  211  : — Memorial 
fit  to  stand  for  centuries  ;  212. 

List  of  Illustrations  ;  15. 

Alphabetical  Index  ;  213. 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Flag  of  distress;  14. 

Chicago  in  1812;  26. 

Jesuit  missionary;  53. 

Me-che-kan-nah-quah;  55. 

Gen.  Anthony  Wayne-  56. 

Wm.  Whistler;  58. 

Mrs.  Wm.  Whistler;  59 

Charles  Jouett;  62. 

Redcoat  of  1812;  65. 

Old  Fort  Dearborn;  67. 

Cabin  in  the  Woods;  71. 

Kinzie  mansion  in  1812;  73. 

Human  Scalp;  75. 

Indfan  Warrior;  77. 

Squaw;  86. 

Black  Partridge  Medal;  91. 

William  Wells;  94. 

Chief  Robinson;  101. 

New    fort,    River    and     Kinzie 

House  (Wau-Bun);  111. 
Massacre  tree;  18th  St.;  113. 
Second  Block-house  in  its  last 

days;  120. 
Block  House  Tablet;  125. 
Beaubien    fiddle   and   Calumet; 

127. 
Emigrants  with  wagon;  129. 
Cock-crow;  133. 
Robert  Cavelier,   Sieur  de   La- 

Salle;  134. 
George  Rogers   Clark,    late    in 

life;  135. 
Shaubena;  139. 
Map  of  new  Harbor;  143. 
Drummer ;  143, 


Interior  of  Fort    (1850),    Lake 

House  in  distance;  145. 
Waubausa  stone  and  Great  Fire 

relics;  147. 
Wild  onion;  151. 
Gwenthlean  (Whistler)    Kinzie; 

153. 
James  Kinzie  (autograph);  160. 
Samuel  Miller  (autograph);  161. 
Juliette  Kinzie;  163. 
John  Harris  Kinzie  in  1827;  164. 
John  Kinzie  (autograph);  165. 
John  Harris  Kinzie  late  in  life; 

166. 
Robert  Allen  Kinzie,  167. 
Kinzie    Mansion     as    given    in 

Wau-Bun;  168. 
Mrs.  Nellie  (Kinzie)  Gordon;  171. 
John  Harris  Kinzie  Jr.;  172. 
Indian   Mother  and  pappoose; 

173. 
Darius    Heald     with    massacre 

relics;  179. 
Massacre  tree  and    Pullman 

house  ;  184. 
Cyclone;  185. 
Skeleton;  186. 
The  late  Calumet  Club   House; 

196. 
Sauganash  Hotel;  200. 
Me  tee-a,  a  signer  of  the  treaty 

of  1821;  202. 
Indian  War-dance,    August  18, 

1835;  204. 
Chi-ca-gou ;  212. 


10 


The  0higag9  Massacre  of  1512 

IN  TWO  PARTS  AND  AN  APPENDIX. 


PART  I. 

Saturday,  August  Fifteenth,  1812 — Narratives  of  the 

Massacre. 


PART  II. 

Historical  and  Biographical — How  the  Fort  and  City 

were  Begun,  and  Who  were  the  Beginners. 


APPENDIX. 
A. — John  Baptiste  Pointe  de  Saible. 
B.— Fort  Dearborn  in  the  War  Department. 
C— The  Whistler  Family. 
D. — The  Kinzie  Family. 
E. — The  Wells  and  Heald  Families. 
F. — The  Bones  of  John  Lalime. 
G. — Letters  From  A.  II.  Edwards. 
II—  Bii.ly  Caldwell,  "The  Sauganash." 
I. — Indian  War  Dance. 
K. — The  Bronze  Memorial  Group. 


PART  FIRST. 

SATURDAY,  AUGUST  FIFTEENTH,   1812. 


HE  morning  of  Fort  Dearborn's 
fatal  day  dawned  bright  and  clear 
over    Iyake    Michigan    and  the 
sandy  flat.  The  "reveille"  doubt- 
less was  sounded  before  sun-rise; 
and  one  can   imagine  the   rattle 
of  the  drum  and  scream  of  the 
fife  as  they  broke  the  dewy  stillness 
and  floated  away,  over  the  sand-spit 
and   out   on    the  lake ;  across   the 
river  to  the  Kinzie  house  and    its 
outbuilding,  the  Ouillemette  house  ; 
and   up  stream  to  the   Indian   en- 
campments, large,  dark  and  lower- 
ing-    Quite  possibly  the  tune  then 
prescribed   was    the    same    as   that 
now  used  for  the  drum-fife  reveille, 
together  with  the  words  that  have 
attached  themselves  to  it  of  late  years: 

Wake  ye  lazy  soldiers,  rouse  up  and  be  killed, 

Hard  tack  and  salt  horse,  get  your  gizzard  filled, 
Then  go  to  fighting— fire  your  forty  round — 
Fall  dead  and  lay  there  buried  under  ground. 

If  this  time-honored  (and  much  hated)  tune  has  come 
down  to  us  from  so  long,  the  words  had  on  that  morning 
a  significance  even  more  perfect  than  that  ordinarily 
belonging  to  them. 

Early  the  company  cooks  must  have  been  at  work, 
boiling  whole  barrels   of  salt   pork  which  had  been  in 

19 


20  THE    CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

soak  for  days  beforehand,  and  as  much  fresh  beef  as 
could  possibly  be  used  before  spoiling.  Bread  had  doubt- 
less been  baked  and  packed  earlier  in  the  week,  and  now 
all  imaginable  preparations  for  a  march  of  nearly  a  month 
must  be  completed  and  the  utensils  packed  and  loaded 
into  the  company  wagons.  At  each  of  the  other,  smaller 
households  outside  the  fort  similar  toils  and  cares  were 
going  on.  How  were  the  lately  weaned  little  ones  to  be 
cared  for  ?  Perhaps  some  parents  hoped  that  they  could 
drive  their  milch-cows  with  the  caravan,  seeing  that 
grass  was  plenty  and  progress  would  be  necessarily  slow. 
What  did  the  prospective  mothers  hope  and  fear?  The 
wife  of  Phelim  Corbin  ;  how  did  she  arm  her  soul  for  the 
month  of  rough  travel,  with  the  travail  of  child  birth  as 
one  of  its  terrors  ? 

Certainly  the  happiest  of  the  crowd  were  the  uncon- 
scious little  ones,  sure  of  love  and  care,  full  of  hope  and 
curiosity — a  round  dozen  of  them  in  one  wagon,  begin- 
ning the  first  journey  of  their  innocent  lives — the  first 
and  last.  Fancy  the  mothers  tucking  them  inl  The 
eager  little  faces  upturned  for  good-bye  kisses! 

All  the  workers  might  have  spared  themselves  their 
trouble.  If  they  were  thinking  of  their  cows,  the  crack 
of  the  Indian  rifles  soon  ended  that  care.  The  food  was 
enough  and  to  spare  ;  not  a  morsel  of  it  did  they  ever 
eat.  The  journey  of  a  month  dwindled  to  a  tramp  of 
an  hour  ;  and  as  to  the  precious  children 

Captain  William  Wells  had  come,  with  thirty  friendly 
Indians  (Miamis)  to  guard  and  help  them  through  their 
long,  lonely  tramp  to  Detroit.  He  was  a  white  man,  the 
uncle  of  the  commandant's  young  wife  (Rebekah  Wells 
Heald),  but  had  been  stolen  when  a  boy  by  the  Indians 
and  brought  up  by  them  ;  had  married  a  chiefs  daughter 
and  had  fought  on  their  side  until,  years  ago,  this  same 
young  niece  had  gone  to  him  and  persuaded  him  to  come 


SATURDAY,    AUGUST    FIFTEENTH.  21 

back  to  his  own  kith  and  kin.  So  any  fears  the  helpless 
settlers  might  have  felt  at  first  could  now  surely  be  put 
aside — Wells  was  so  strong,  so  brave,  so  well  acquainted 
with  the  Indians!  He  could  doubtless  keep  them  in 
order,  cither  by  policy  or  by  force. 

But  if  all  was  well,  why  had  Captain  Wells  blackened 
his  face — that  is,  put  on  the  Indian  sign  of  war  and 
death — before  starting  that  morning?  All  accounts 
agree  that  he  did  so,  and  usually  it  is  taken  as  having 
been  a  sign  of  consciousness  of  impending  death.  Mrs. 
Helm*  seems  to  have  regarded  it  in  this  light.  The 
question  can  never  be  settled,  but  to  me  it  seems  to  have 
been  an  act  of  policy  ;  an  effort  to  identify  himself  with 
his  Miamis  and  other  friendly  Indians.  Wau-Bun  adds 
the  gruesome  and  almost  incredible  story  that  the  start 
out  was  made  to  the  music  of  the  dead  march!  As  Mrs. 
Helm  was  on  horseback  with  the  column  she  must  have 
known,  and  we  can  but  take  her  word  for  it. 

The  large  herd  of  beef-cattle  was  left  to  the  savages. 
This  was  probably  the  most  precious  gift  of  all  put  in 
their  hands  by  the  abandonment  of  the  post.  The  liquor, 
if  it  had  been  left,  would  have  been  their  bane,  and  the 
fire-arms  the  mere  instruments  of  mutual  destruction. 
The  clothes  must  wear  out,  the  flour  be  eaten  up,  the 
tools  and  furniture  useless,  the  paints  and  gewgaws  a 
fleeting  joy  ;  but  the  herd  !  This  would  be  self-sustain- 
ing, self-perpetuating,  a  perennial  fount  of  blessing  and 
mine  of  wealth.  Here  were  food,  clothing,  shoes  for 
this  year  and  all  years  to  come.  No  tribe  or  nation  of 
their  race  had  ever  possessed  such  a  treasure.  How  did 
they  avail  themselves  of  it  ?     Wau-Bun  answers: 

*Margaret  Helm,  wife  of  lieutenant  Helm,  and  step-daughter  of  old  John 
Kinzie,  has  hitherto  been  the  main— almost  the  only— source  of  knowledge 
about  the  massacre.  She  told  the  story  twenty  years  after  its  occurrence, 
to  Mrs.  John  H.  Kinzie,  who  embodied  it  in  her  romantic  narrative  ''Wau- 
Bun,"  published  about  twenty-two  years  later  still. 


ZZ  THE    CHICAGO    MASSACRE   OF    IS  I  2. 

The  fort  had  become  a  scene  of  plunder  to  such  as  remained 
after  the  troops  moved  out.  The  cattle  had  been  shot  down  as  they 
ran  at  large  and  lay  dead  or  dying  around.  This  work  of  butchery 
had  commenced  just  as  we  were  leaving  the  fort. 

No  more  characteristic  bit  of  Indian  painting  has  ever 
been  made  than  that  given  in  these  few  words.  Here  was 
the  native  savage  (not  ignorant  of  wiser  ways,  for  he  had 
had  the  thrifty  white  man  under  his  eyes  for  four  genera- 
tions) still  showing  himself  in  sense  a  child,  in  strength 
a  man,  and  in  cruelty  a  fiend  incarnate. 

Mrs.  Helm  continues: 

I  well  remember  a  remark  of  Ensign  Ronan,  as  the  firing  went 
on.  "Such,"  turning  to  me,  "is  to  be  our  fate — to  be  shot  down 
like  beasts." 

"Well,  sir,"  said  the  commanding  officer,  who  overheard  him, 
"are  you  afraid  ?" 

"  No,"  replied  the  high-spirited  young  man,  "  I  can  march  up  to 
the  enemy  where  you  dare  not  show  your  face  !"  And  his  subse- 
quent gallant  behavior  showed  this  to  be  no  idle  boast. 

Unconsciously  Mrs.  Helm,  in  this  artless  tale  told  to 
glorify  the  younger  officer,  awakens  in  our  minds  a  feel- 
ing of  dislike  for  him.  That  a  youth,  scarce  two  years 
out  of  West  Point,  should  add  an  ill-timed  insult  to  the 
heavy  cares  of  his  senior  officer,  a  soldier  of  thirteen  years 
service,  rmust  be  shocking  to  every  one.  Seeing  that 
within  two  hours  he  was  to  die  in  action,  bravely  doing 
his  duty  (in  company  with  his  senior  similarly  engaged 
and  sorely  wounded)  we  can  readily  fcrgive  his  error, 
but  not  without  a  protest  against  a  foolish  woman's  fool- 
ish effort  to  make  it  out  a  noble  and  praiseworthy  outburst. 

Mrs.  Heald's  narrative*  (though  fortified  by  Captain 
Heald's  letter,  quoted  later)  seems  less  probable  than  the 

*It  is  a  curious  fact  that  all  our  direct  information  concerning  the  events  of 
that  day  comes  from  two  women  — Mrs.  Lieutenant  Helm,  who  has  been  already 
mentioned,  and  Mrs.  Captain  Heald.  Both  these  young  wives  will  receive  more 
detailed  mention  a  little  further  on.  Mrs.  Heald's  account  has  never  been  pub- 
lished before.  I  give  it  as  taken  down  in  short-hand  from  the  lips  of  her  son, 
the  Hon.  Darius  Heald  of  O' Fallon,  Missouri,  in  the  summer  of  1892. 


SATURDAY,    AUGUST   FIFTEENTH.  23 

foregoing   circumstantial    account    in    Wau  -  Bun.      She 
says: 

The  fort  was  vacated  quietly,  not  a  cross  word  being  passed  be- 
tween soldiers  and  Indians,  and  good-byes  were  exchanged.  Not 
an  officer  objected  to  leaving.  Nobody  objected  but  Kinzie,  who 
did  so  for  personal  reasons.  Everything  left  was  divided  among 
the  Indians  who  were  there,  and  a  party  of  them  escorted  the 
whites  out  of  the  fort,  these  Indians  being  the  ones  who  took  no 
interest  in  the  fight,  although  they  may  have  known  something 
about  it.  The  general  impression  among  the  officers  (and  this  was 
Captain  Heald's  idea  also)  was  that  the  Indians  who  took  their 
shaie  when  the  things  were  distributed  at  the  fort,  had  no  part  in 
the  massacre. 

Captain  Heald's  force  consisted  of  fifty-four  regular 
soldiers  and  twelve  militia- men,  and  with  them  departed 
every  white  inhabitant  of  the  little  settlement,  men, 
women  and  children — probably  about  thirty  in  all— rang- 
ing in  social  condition  from  the  prosperous  Kinzies  to  the 
humble  discharged  soldiers  who  had  married  and  started 
to  make  a  living  by  tilling  the  soil,  etc. 

The  Kinzie  family  was  to  go  by  boat,  skirting  along 
the  lake  and  keeping  in  touch  with  the  land  column  as 
long  as  it  should  hug  the  shore;  later  ascending  the  St, 
Joseph's  River  to  "Bertrand,"  or  "Parc-aux-vaches,"  as 
it  was  called,  in  memory  of  its  having  been  the  cow-past- 
ure of  the  old  French-Canadian  settlement  and  fort  which 
had  stood  on  the  bank  of  that  river  a  century  or  so  ago. 
The  boat-party  consisted  of  Mrs.  John  Kinzie,  her  son, 
John  H.,  born  at  Sandwich,  Canada,  July  7,  1803,  and 
her  other  children — Ellen  Marion  (later  Mrs.  Alexander 
Wolcott),  born  in  Chicago,  December,  1805;  Maria  Indi- 
ana (later  Mrs.  General  Hunter),  born  in  Chicago,  in 
1807,  and  Robert  A.,  born  in  Chicago  in  18 10.  Her 
daughter  by  a  previous  marriage,  Margaret  McKillip, 
was,  it  will  be  remembered,  now  the  wife  of  Lieutenant 
Helm,  and  she  bravely  elected  to  share  the  perils  of  the 
land-march  with  her  husband.    There  was  also  in  the  boat 


24  THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE    OE    l8l2. 

the  nurse,  Josette  (misprinted  in  Wau-Bun,  "Grutte"*) 
L,aframboise  (afterward  Mrs.  Jean  Baptiste  Beaubien),  a 
clerk  of  Mr.  Kinzie's,  two  servants,  the  boatman,  and  two 
Indians  as  guard.  This  shows  that  the  boat  must  have 
been  neither  a  bark  canoe  nor  a  common  "dug-out"  or 
"pirogue,"  but  a  large  bateau,  capable  of  carrying  these 
numerous  passengers,  with  corresponding  baggage  and 
supplies. 

To-pee-nee-be,  a  friendly  Indian,  chief  of  the  St.  Jo- 
seph's band,  early  in  the  morning  of  the  fatal  day,  had 
warned  John  Kinzie  that  trouble  was  to  come  from  the 
"escort"  which  Captain  Heald  had  bargained  for  with 
the  Pottowatomies  in  council,  and  had  urged  him  to  go 
in  the  boat  with  his  family.  But  the  old  frontiersman  was 
built  of  too  sturdy  stuff  to  take  such  advice.  If  there  was 
to  be  danger  he  must  share  it,  and  if  help  would  avail  he 
must  give  it;  so  he  rode  with  the  column. 

First  rode  out  Captain  William  Wells,  hero-martyr, 
marching,  probably  consciously,  to  a  doom  self-inflicted 
under  the  impulse  of  human  sympathy  and  soldierly 
honor.  Following  him  were  half  of  his  mounted  escort 
of  Miami  Indians,  followed  in  their  turn  by  the  volunteers 
and  such  of  the  regulars  as  were  able  to  bear  arms.  Next 
came  the  short  train  of  wagons,  with  stores,  supplies, 
camp-equippage,  women,  children,  sick,  wounded  and 
disabled.  This  little  caravan  contained  all  there  was  to 
show  for  eight  years  of  industry  and  privation.  But  what 
mattered  it?  Greater  savings  would  only  have  meant 
greater  loss,  and  more  men,  women  and  children  would 
only  have  meant  more  suffering  and  death. 

*In  the  Story  of  Chicago  is  given  the  following  fac  simile  to  show  how  read 
ily  the  name  "Josette"  might  have  been  read  "Grutte." 


SATURDAY,    AUGUST    FIFTEENTH.  25 

The  rear-guard  was  composed  of  the  remainder  of  Cap- 
tain Wells's  wretched  Miamis,  such  reliance  as  is  a  broken 
reed.  The  Miamis  were  mounted,  as  were  Captain  Wells, 
Mr.  Kinzie,  Mrs.  Heald  and  Mrs.  Helm,  but  probably  no 
others  of  the  party. 

The  day  continued  bright  and  sunny,  and  the  line 
must  have  stretched  from  the  fort  (about  the  south  end  of 
Rush  Street  bridge)  perhaps  to  the  present  Madison 
Street,  half  way  to  the  point  where  began  the  sand-dunes 
or  low  hillswhich,  even  within  the  memory  of  the  pres- 
ent generation,  skirted  the  shores  down  as  far  as  the  be- 
ginning of  the  oak*  woods  of  Hyde  Park.  The  bateau  fol- 
lowed in  the  rear  of  the  column  and  had  just  reached  the 
mouth  of  the  river  (where  the  foot  of  Madison  street  now 
is*)  when  a  messenger  from  To-pe-nee-be  brought  the 
Kinzie  party  to  a  halt. 

The  column  had  marched  parallel  with  the  Pottowat- 
omie  ''escort''  until  both  bodies  reached  the  sand-hills. 
Then  the  whites  kept  by  the  shore-road,  while  the  Indians, 
veering  slightly  to  their  right,  put  the  sand-hills  between 
their  crowd  and  the  slim,  weak  line  of  troops  and  wagons. 

The  reports  of  the  fight  itself,  given  by  the  two  wit- 
nesses on  whom  we  must  rely,  do  not  differ  materially 
from  each  other.  Mrs.  Helm's  narrative  naturally  treats 
more  fully  of  the  Kinzie  family's  experiences;  Mrs. 
Heald' s  more  fully  of  her  own  adventures  and  the  death 
of  her  uncle.  Neither  woman  mentions  the  other;  they 
were  probably  separated  early.  I  will  give  the  stories  in 
turn,  beginning  with  Mrs.  Helm's. 

MARGARET  HELM'S  STORY. 

The  boat  started,  but  had  scarcely  reached  the  mouth  of  the 
river,  which,  it  will  be  recollected,   was  here  half  a  mile  below  the 

*The  river  then  made  a  turn  southward  just  cast  of  the  fort,  and  only  found 
an  entrance  to  the  lake  across  the  south  end  of  a  long  sand-bar,  the  continu- 
ation of  the  shore  of  the  North  Side. 


26 


SATURDAY,    AUGUST   FIFTEENTH.  27 

fort,  when  another  messenger  from  To-pe-nee-be  arrived  to  detain 
them  where  they  were.  In  breathless  expectation  sat  the  wife  and 
mother.  She  was  a  woman  of  uncommon  energy  and  strength  of 
character,  yet  her  heart  died  within  her  as  she  folded  her  arms 
around  her  helpless  infants  and  gazed  on  the  march  of  her  husband 
and  her  eldest  child  [Mrs.  Helm]  to  certain  destruction. 

They  had  marched  perhaps  a  mile  and  a  half  [Fourteenth 
Street],  when  Captain  Wells,  who  had  kept  somewhat  in  ad- 
vance of  his  Miamis,  came  riding  furiously  back.  "They  are 
about  to  attack  us!"  he  shouted.  "Form  instantly  and  charge 
upon  them."  Scarcely  were  the  words  uttered  when  a  volley  was 
showered  from  among  the  sand-hills.  The  troops  were  hastily 
brought  into  line  and  charged  up  the  bank.  One  man,  a  veteran  of 
seventy  winters,  fell  as  they  ascended. 

After  we  had  left  the  bank  the  firing  became  general.  The 
Miamis  fled  at  the  outset.  Their  chief  rode  up  to  the  Pottovvato- 
mies  and  said:  "You  have  deceived  the  Americans  and  us.  You 
have  done  a  bad  action,  and"(braudishing  his  tomahawk,  'I  will  be 
the  first  to  head  a  party  of  Americans  to  return  and  punisn  your 
treachery."  So  saying  he  galloped  after  his  companions,  who  were 
now  scouring  across  the  prairies. 

Mrs.  Helm  does  not  say  that  she  heard  these  words 
when  uttered,  nor  is  it  probable  that  she  could  have  been 
within  hearing  distance  of  the  very  head  of  the  col- 
umn, or  even  could  have  understood  the  words  unless 
(what  most  unlikely)  they  were  uttered  in  English. 
The  whole  circumstance  looks  apocryphal — probably 
a  later  Indian  fabrication. 

The  troops  behaved  most  gallantly.  They  were  but  a  handful, 
but  they  seemed  resolved  to  sell  their  lives  as  dearly  as  possible. 
Our  horses  pranced  and  bounded  and  could  hardly  be  restrained  as 
the  balls  whistled  among  them.  I  drew  off  a  little  and  gazed  upon 
my  husband  and  father,  who  were  yet  unharmed,  [  felt  that  my 
hour  was  come,  and  endeavored  to  forget  those  I  loved  and  prepare 
myself  for  my  approaching  fate. 

This  seems  to  be  the  moment  where  her  narrative 
diverges  from  that  of  Mrs.  Heald,  who  evidently  followed 
the  troops,  as  she  was  caught  between  a  cross-fire  of  the 
Indians,  whom  the  advance  had  left  on  its  flanks  and 


28  THE    CHICAGO    MASSACRE    OF    1 8 12. 

rear,  and  there  received  her  wounds.  Mrs.  Helm's  sub- 
sequent narrative  shows  that  she  was,  when  rescued,  un- 
wounded  and  near  the  lake. 

While  I  was  thus  engaged,  the  surgeon,  Dr.  Van  Voorhees,  came 
up.  lie  was  badly  wounded.  His  horse  was  shot  under  him  and 
he  had  received  a  ball  in  his  leg.  Bvery  muscle  of  his  face  was 
quivering  with  the  agony  of  terror.     He  said  to  me  : 

"Do  you  think  they  will  take  our  lives?  I  am  badly  wounded, 
but  I  think  not  mortally.  Perhaps  we  might  purchase  our  lives 
by  promising  a  large  reward.     Do  you  think  there  is  any  chance  ?" 

"Dr.  Van  Voorhees,"  said  I,  "do  not  let  us  waste  the  few  moments 
that  yet  remain  to  us  in  such  vain  hopes.  Our  fate  is  inevitable.  In 
a  few  minutes  we  must  appear  before  the  bar  of  God.  Let  us  make 
what  preparation  is  yet  in  our  power." 

"O,  I  cannot  die  !"  exclaimed  he.  "  I  am  not  fit  to  die— if  I  had 
but  a  short  time  to  prepare— death  is  awful  !" 

I  pointed  to  Ensign  Ronau,  who,  though  mortally  wounded  and 
nearly  down,  was  still  fighting  with  desperation  on  one  knee. 
"  Look  at  that  man,"  said  I;   "at  least  he  dies  like  a  soldier." 

"Yes,"  replied  the  unfortunate  man,  with  a  gasp,  "but  he  has  no 
terrors  of  the  future.     He  is  an  unbeliever." 

When  we  read  this  remarkable  dialogue — remarkable 
as  occurring  amid  the  rattle  of  musketry  on  a  battle-field 
where  the  narrators'  friends  were  perishing  in  a  hopeless 
struggle  with  an  overpowering  force  of  savage  foes — we 
remember  that  Mrs.  Kinzie's  book  did  not  assume  to  be 
history;  was  not  written  as  a  grave  and  literal  record  of 
things  as  they  were;  a  statement  carefully  scrutinized  to 
see  that  no  unjust  slur  is  cast  upon  any  character,  even 
so  unimportant  a  one  as  the  poor  wounded,  dying  sur- 
geon. Mrs.  Helm,  on  the  dreadful  day,  was  a  mere  girl- 
wife  of  seventeen  years,  and  was  a  woman  of  thirty-seven 
when  Mrs.  Kinzie  transcribed  the  artless  tale  into  Wau- 
Bun,  a  book  which  reads  like  a  romance,  and  was  meant 
so  to  be  read. 

The  utterance  of  these  admirable  sentiments  while  still 
in  sight  of  Ensign  Ronan,  mortally  wounded,  yetfighting 
with  desperation  on  one  knee,  again  puts  us  in  doubt  as 


SATURDAY,    AUGUST   FIFTEENTH.  29 

to  Mrs.  Helm's  location  on  the  field;  but  the  next  part  of 
her  story  shows  that  she  was  not  far  from  the  water. 

At  this  moment  a  youug  Indian  raised  his  tomahawk  at  me.  By 
springing  aside  I  avoided  the  blow,  which  was  intended  for  my 
skull,  but  which  alighted  on  my  shoulder.  I  seized  him  around  the 
neck,  and  while  exerting  my  utmost  efforts  to  get  possession  of  his 
scalping-knife,  which  hung  in  a  scabbard  over  his  breast,  I  was 
dragged  from  his  grasp  by  another  and  an  older  Indian.  The  latter 
bore  me  struggling  and  resisting  toward  the  lake.  Notwithstanding 
the  rapidity  with  which  I  was  hurried  along,  I  recognized,  as  I 
passed  them,  the  remains  of  the  unfortunate  surgeon.  'Some  mur- 
derous tomahawk  had  stretched  him  upon  the  very  spot  where  I  had 
last  seen  him. 

I  was  immediately  plunged  into  the  water  and  held  there  with  a 
forcible  hand,  notwithstanding  my  resistance.  I  soon  perceived, 
however,  that  the  object  of  my  captor  was  not  to  drown  me,  for  he 
held  me  firmly  in  such  a  position  as  to  place  my  head  above  water. 
This  reassured  me,  and  regarding  him  attentively  I  soon  recog- 
nized, in  spite  of  the  paint  with  which  he  was  disguised,  The  Black 
Partridge. 

This  picturesque  narrative  of  the  rescue  of  a  young 
bride  by  a  friendly  Indian,  has  been  justly  regarded  as 
the  one  romantic  story  connected  with  that  dark  and 
bloody  day.  It  has  been  the  chosen  theme  of  the  story- 
teller, the  painter  and  the  sculptor,  and  its  portrayal  in 
perennial  bronze  forms  the  theme  of  the  magnificent 
group  which  has  been  designed  and  modeled  by  the 
sculptor,  Carl  Rohl-Smith,  cast  in  bronze,  and  pre- 
sented (June,  1S93),  with  appropriate  ceremonies,  to  the 
Chicago  Historical  Society,  "in  trust  for  the  city  and 
for  posterity,"  as  set  forth  by  an  inscription  on  its 
granite  base.-'' 

Mrs.  Helm  goes  on: 

When  the  firing  had  nearly  subsided  my  preserver  bore  me  from 
the  water  and  conducted  me  up  the  sand-banks.  It  was  a  burning 
August  morning,  and  walking  through  the  sand  in  my  drenched 
condition  was  inexpressibly  painful  and  fatiguing.     I  stooped  and 

♦See  Appendix  K. 


80  TH£   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

took  off  my  shoes  to  free  them  from  the  sand  with  which  they  were 
nearly  filled,  when  a  squaw  seized  and  bore  them  off,  and  I  was 
obliged  to  proceed  without  them. 

When  we  had  gained  the  prairie  [probably  at  about  Twelfth 
Street]  I  was  met  by  my  father  [her  stepfather,  John  Kinzie],  who 
told  me  that  my  husband  was  safe,  but  slightly  wounded.  They 
led  me  gently  back  toward  the  Chicago  River,  along  the  southern 
bank  of  which  was  the  Pottowatomie  encampment.  Atone  time  I 
was  placed  on  a  horse  without  a  saddle,  but  findirg  the  motion  in- 
supportable, I  sprang  off.  Supported  partly  by  my  kind  conductor, 
Black  Partridge,  and  partly  by  another  Indian,  Pee-so-tum,  who 
held  dangling  in  his  hand  a  scalp  which,  by  the  black  ribbon 
around  the  queue,  I  recognized  as  that  of  Cap+ain  Wells,  I  dragged 
my  fainting  steps  to  one  of  the  wigwams.  The  wife  of  Wah-bee- 
nee-mah,  a  chief  from  the  Illinois  River,  was  standing  near,  and  see- 
ing my  exhausted  condition,  she  seized  a  kettle,  dipped  up  some 
water  from  the  stream  that  flowed  near  [the  slough  that  emptied 
into  the  main  river  at  about  the  south  end  of  State  Street  bridge], 
threw  into  it  some  maple  sugar,  and  stirring  it  up  with  her  hand, 
gave  it  to  me  to  drink.  This  act  of  kindness  in  the  midst  of  so 
many  horrors  touched  me  most  sensibly,  but  my  attention  was 
soon  diverted  to  other  objects. 

The  whites  had  surrendered  after  the  loss  of  about  two-thirds 
their  number.  They  had  stipulated,  through  the  interpreter, 
Peresh  Leclerc,  for  the  preservation  of  their  lives  and  those  of 
the  remaining  women  and  children,  and  for  their  delivery  at  some 
of  the  British  posts,  unless  ransomed  by  traders  in  the  Indian  coun- 
try. It  appears  that  the  wounded  prisoners  were  not  considered  as 
included  in  the  stipulation,  and  a  horrible  scene  ensued  on  their 
being  brought  into  camp.  An  old  squaw,  infuriated  by  the  loss  of 
friends,  or  excited  by  the  sanguinary  scenes  around  her,  seemed  pos- 
sessed by  a  demoniac  ferocity.  She  seized  a  stable-fork  and  assaulted 
one  miserable  victim  who  lay  groaning  and  writhing  in  the  agony  of 
his  wounds,  aggravated  by  the  scorching  beams  of  the  sun.  With 
a  delicacy  of  feeling  scarcely  to  have  been  expected  undet  such 
circumstances,  Wa-bee-nee-mah  stretched  a  mat  across  two  poles, 
between  me  and  the  deadful  scene.  I  was  thus  spared,  in  some 
degree,  a  view  of  its  horrors,  although  I  could  not  entirely  close 
my  ears  to  the  cries  of  the  sufferer. 

The  disgrace  attaching  to  the  British  government  in 
seeking  alliance  with  such  savages  in  a  war  against  civil- 


SATURDAY,    AUGUST    FIFTEENTH.  31 

ized  beings  of  its  own  race,  is  elsewhere  fully  treated. 
One  can  only  wish  that  those  cries  might  have  reached 
the  women  of  all  England,  instead  of  falling  fruitlessly  on 
those  of  one  poor,  exhausted,  helpless  American  girl,  and 
of  the  red  hell-spawn  grinning  and  dancing  with  delight 
at  the  sound. 

Such  is  the  tale  as  first  given  to  the  world  by  Mrs. 
Kinzie  in  "Wau-Bun."  I  will  now  present  the  narra- 
tive of  the  same  struggle,  defeat,  surrender  and  massacre 
as  often  told  by  Mrs.  Captain  Heald  to  her  son,  the  Hon. 
Darius  Heald,  and  by  him  to  me.  The  two  are  not, 
in  essentials,  contradictory  ;  each  completes  and  rounds 
out  the  other. 

After  giving  the  account  of  the  peaceable  start  from 
the  fort  (inconsistent  with  Mrs.  Helm's  story,  already 
quoted,  and  less  truth-seeming  than  the  latter),  she  goes 
on  to  say: 

REBEKAH    HEALD' S    STORY. 

Captain  Wells'  escort  was  mounted  on  Indian  ponies.  Captain 
Wells  himself  was  mounted  on  a  thoroughbred.  Mrs.  Heald  and 
Mrs.  Helm  were  also  on  horseback,  the  former  on  her  own  beloved 
Kentucky  horse. 

They  advanced,  Wells  and  his  escort  getting  about  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  ahead,  and  were  jogging  along  quietly  when  all  at  once 
they  halted,  and  he  turned  back  and  got  down  pretty  close  to 
Captain  Heald— perhaps  half  the  distance.  He  pulled  off  his  hat 
and  swung  it  around  his  head  once  or  twice,  making  a  circle.  As 
soon  as  he  saw  Wells  coming  back,  Captain  Heald  said  to  his 
wife:  "Uncle  sees  something  ahead  of  him  there.  There  is 
something  wrong."  And  when  he  made  the  circle  around  his 
head,  Mrs.  Heald  understood  the  sign,  "  We  are  surrounded  by 
Indians."  Captain  Wells  soon  got  close  enough  to  shout  "We 
are  surrounded  by  Indians.  March  up  on  the  sand-ridges.  There 
are  sand-ridges  we  ought  to  get  in  behind  where  we  can  stand  half 
up  and  not  be  seen."  Then  she  saw  the  Indians'  heads  "  sticking 
up  and  down  again,  here  and  there,  like  turtles  out  of  the  water." 
They  marched  up  on  the  sand-ridges,  the  wagons  being  put  back 
next  to  the   lake   and  the   men  taking   position  in   front  of  them. 


32  THE   CHICAGO    MASSACRE   OP    l8l2. 

Captain  Wells  shouted  to  Captain  Heald,  "  Charge  them  !  "  and 
then  led  on  and  broke  the  ranks  of  the  Indians,  who  scattered 
right  and  left.  He  then  whirled  round  and  charged  to  the  left. 
This  move  brought  them  well  out  into  the  country,  and  they 
marched  onward  and  took  position  about  two  or  three  hundred 
yards  in  front  of  the  wagons  and  a  like  distance  from  the  Indians. 
Captain  Heald  rather  gave  way  to  Captain  Wells,  knowing  his 
superior  excellence  in  Indian  warfare,  Wells  having  been  trained 
from  childhood  by  such  warriors  as  Iyittle  Turtle,  Tecumseh  and 
Black  Hawk  ;  especially  by  the  first  two. 

Here  to  the  eye  of  common-sense,  whether  soldierly  or 
civilian,  the  battle  is  already  gone — lost  beyond  salva- 
tion. The  onns  of  blame  appears  to  rest  on  poor  Wells, 
the  brave,  devoted  volunteer.  He  had  learned  war  in  a 
school  that  took  no  account  of  the  supply-train  ;  in  the 
school  of  individual  fighters,  living  on  nothing,  saving 
no  wounded  or  non-combatants  ;  dash,  scurry,  kill,  scalp 
and  run  away,  every  man  for  himself — and  the  devil  take 
the  hindmost — in  other  words  the  Indian  system.  As  to 
this  band  of  whites,  what  had  it  to  fight  for  but  its  train 
of  wagons  with  all  the  helpless  ones,  all  the  stores,  all 
the  ammunition,  all  the  means  of  progress  and  of  caring 
for  the  wounded  ?  To  charge  the  centre  of  a  brave,  un- 
formed rabble  which  outflanks  you  is  only  heroic  suicide 
at  best,  and  when  the  doing  so  leaves  the  train  at  the 
mercy  of  the  spreading  flanks  of  the  foe,  it  is  fatal  madness. 

To  return  to  the  Heald  narrative: 

Another  charge  was  made  which  enabled  Captain  Wells  to  get 
a  little  closer  to  the  Indians.  He  had  two  pistols  and  a  small  gun. 
His  bullets  and  powder  were  kept  in  shoulder  belts,  hung  at  con- 
venient places,  and  he  generally  had  an  extra  bullet  in  his  mouth, 
which  helped  him  to  load  fast  wdien  necessary.  He  could  pour  in 
a  little  powder,  wad  it  down,  "  blow  in  "  the  bullet,  prime  and  fire 
more  quickly  than  one  can  tell  the  facts.  The  Indians  broke  from 
him  right  and  left.  The  hottest  part  of  the  battle  lasted  but  a  few 
minutes,  but  Captain  Heald's  little  band  was  cut  down.  He  gave 
the  signal  for  surrender  ;  the  chiefs  came  together  and  they  made 
a  compromise. 


SATURDAY,    AUGUST   FIFTEENTH.  33 

By  this  time  Wells,  Ronan  and  Van  Vorhees  were 
killed,  Heald  had  a  bullet  in  his  hip,  Mrs.  Heald  had  a 
half  dozen  wounds,  half  the  regulars  were  killed  or 
wounded,  and  so  far  as  we  now  know  for  certain,  all 
twelve  militia-men.  (A  doubt  about  this  last  named 
unexplained  mortality,  and  suggestion  as  to  the  probable 
manner  of  their  death,  will  be  noted  later.)  Darius 
Heald  could  only  say: 

Afterwards,  in  talking  the  matter  over,  Captain  Nathan  Heald 
said  that  he  had  no  confidence  in  the  Indians,  but  that  he  had 
done  the  best  he  could  do  ;  that  in  fifteen  minutes  more  the  last 
man  would  have  been  killed,  as  they  had  no  chance  at  all ;  his 
men  were  falling  rapidly,  and  he  himself  was  wounded  in  the  hip 
by  a  one-ounce  ball.  That  ball  was  never  extracted,  and  caused 
his  death  twenty  years  afterward. 

In  any  circumstances,  one  cannot  cast  blame  on  a 
beaten  commander,  negotiating  with  his  victorious  foes, 
while  bleeding  from  a  bullet  deep-bedded  in  his  hip-joint. 
In  this  case,  it  is  not  likely  that  blame  would  be  due, 
even  if  Captain  Heald  had  been  unhurt.  But  for  his 
surrender,  the  Chicago  Massacre  would  have  been,  on  a 
small  scale,  the  fore-runner  of  the  great  Custer  slaughter, 
where  not  a  white  man  lived  to  tell  the  tale.  Every 
man,  woman  and  child  of  white  blood  (except  perhaps 
the  Kinzies  and  Lieutenant  Helm),  would  now  be  in 
oblivion  almost  as  if  they  had  never  been  born.  Even 
the  "massacre  tree"  that  stands  today  (1893)  in 
Eighteenth  street  near  the  lake,  in  gaunt,  leafless  old  age, 
could  only  have  been  identified  by  the  bleacning  skulls, 
great  and  small,  which  surrounded  it  when  General  Cass 
passed  the  spot  a  few  years  afterward. 

Here  we  take  up  again  Mrs.  Heald' s  personal  story: 

After  the  fighting  commenced,  Mrs.  Heald  turned  back  and 
ascended  a  little  elevation  between  the  army  and  the  wagons.  She 
saw  a  young,  fine-looking  officer  fall  [probably  Lieutenant  Ronan] 
end  thought  it  was  her  husband,  and  was  under  this  impression 
until  after  the  fight  was  over.     Just  before  the  surrender,  she  got 


34  THK   CHICAGO   MASSACRE    OF    l8l2. 

up  in  range  of  the  bullets  coming  from  Indians  on  both  sides  of 
her.  She  did  not  know  whether  the  Indians  aimed  at  her  or  not, 
but  she  was  wounded  in  six  places,  one  hand  being  rendered  help- 
less, the  ball  passing  between  the  two  bones  of  her  arm.  Her  son 
has  seen  the  scar  a  thousand  times. 

I  have  remarked  that  Mrs.  Heald  does  not  mention 
the  presence  of  Mrs.  Helm,  nor  does  the  latter  that  of 
the  former.  We  judge  from  this,  and  from  Mrs.  Helm's 
account  of  her  being  saved  by  being  plunged  in  the  lake, 
that  the  latter  remained  nearer  the  shore  than  did  the 
other. 

DEATH   OF  CAPTAIN  WELLS. 

Captain  Wells,  who  was  shot  through  the  lungs,  rode  up  and 
took  her  hand,  saying:  "Farewell  my  child. "  Mrs.  Heald  said 
to  him  :  "  Why  uncle,  I  hope  you  will  get  over  this."  "  No  my 
child,"  he  said,  "lean  not."  He  told  her  he  was  shot  through 
the  lungs,  and  she  saw  the  blood  oozing  through  his  nose  and 
mouth.  He  still  held  her  hand  and  talked  to  her,  saying  that  he 
could  not  last  five  minutes  longer.  He  said:  "Tell  my  wife — if  you 
live  to  get  there,  but  I  think  it  doubtful  if  a  single  one  gets  there — 
tell  her  I  died  at  my  post  doing  the  best  I  could.  There  are  seven 
red  devils  over  there  that  I  have  killed." 

His  horse,  which  had  been  shot  just  behind  the  girth,  then  fell 
and  caught  Captain  Wells'  leg  under  him.  As  he  did  so,  Captain 
Wells  turned  and  saw  six  or  seven  Indians  approaching  them.  He 
took  aim  and  fired,  killing  one  of  them.  They  approached  slill 
closer,  and  Mrs.  Heald  said  to  him:  "  Uncle,  there  is  an  Indian 
pointing  right  at  the  back  of  your  head."  Captain  Wells  put  his 
hand  back  and  held  up  his  head  that  better  aim  might  be  taken, 
and  then  cried  "  Shoot  away  !"  The  Indian  fired,  the  shot  being 
fatal.  They  then  pulled  him  out  from  under  his  horse  (Mrs.  Heald 
still  seated  on  her  horse  near  by)  and  cut  his  body  open,  the  gashes 
being  in  the  shape  of  a  cross.  They  took  out  his  heart,  placed  it 
on  a  gun-stick  and  whirled  it  round  and  round,  yelling  like  fiends. 
The  noise  drew  other  Indians  to  the  spot  and  they  then  commenced 
cutting  up  the  heart  and  eating  it.  They  crowded  around  and  the 
bleeding  heart  was  thrust  forward  at  one  after  another 

Finally  an  Indian  cut  off  a  piece,  held  it  up  to  Mrs.  Heald  and 
insisted  on  her  eating  it.  She  shook  her  head.  He  then  daubed 
her  face  with  it.     She  shook  her  fist  at  him.     Then   they  called 


SATURDAY,    AUGUST   FIFTEENTH.  35 

her  "Epecouier  !  Epeconier  !  "  this  being  their  name  for  Captain 
Wells — thus  signifying  that  she  was  a  Wells — a  person  full  of 
pluck  and  fortitude. 

So  nobly  perished  one  of  the  best  and  bravest  frontiers- 
men, fighting  where  he  had  been  summoned  by  sympathy 
and.  affection,  not  by  the  orders  of  any  superior  officer. 
No  knight  ever  set  lance  in  rest  under  a  more  purely 
chivalric  impulse  than  did  this  plain,  unpretending,  half- 
educated  pioneer.  Two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  away 
he  had  heard  the  warning  note  of  peril,  seen  the  fair 
young  face  of  his  brother's  daughter  (she  who  long 
before  had  sought  him  out  among  his  savage  captors  and 
restored  him  to  his  kins-folk),  and  felt  the  impulse  of 
manly  self-devotion  to  save  her  and  her  friends  from 
impending  doom.  He  obeyed  the  noble  impulse  and — 
he  died  like  a  man,  and  somewhere  beneath  our  thought- 
less footsteps  his  bones  lie  buried.* 

In  the  Calumet  Club  is  preserved  the  identical  hatchet 
worn  by  Captain  Wells  during  the  last  fight,  with 
authenticating  documents  furnished  by  James  Madison 
Wolcott,  of  South  Toledo,  Ohio,  his  grandson  by  his  wife 
Wa-nan-ga-peth  (daughter  of  Me-che-kan-nah-qua  or 
Little  Turtle)  through  his  daughter  Ah-mah-qua-zah- 
quah  ("A  sweet  breeze"),  who  married  Judge  James 
Wolcott.  It  is  related  that  Wa-nan-ga-peth  received  the 
news  of  her  husband's  death  from  a  stranger  Indian  who 
entered,  told  the  message,  laid  down  the  hatchet  in  token 
of  its  truth,  and  departed,  unknown  as  he  came. 

♦Chicago  should  not  be  without  a  statue  of  this  early  hero,  martyred  in  her 
service.  A  miniature  exists  purporting  to  give  his  features,  and  as  to  his 
form,  that  could  be  easily  reproduced  from  description,  while  his  Indian  dress 
would  serve  to  give  grace  and  dignity  to  the  work.  Among  the  first  streets 
named,  when  the  village  of  Chicago  was  laid  out(i83i).  was  one  called  after 
him— for  he  was  not  yet  forgotten.  Part  of  the  street-  the  stretch  north  of  the 
river— still  retains  the  great  name,  but  the  most  important  portion,  that 
traversing  the  business  heart  of  the  city,  has  been  arbitrarily  changed  to 
"  Fifth  Avenue,"  there  being  no  Fourth  or  Sixth  Avenue  adjoining  it  on  either 
side  to  excuse   the   ungrateful,   barbarous  innovation. 


36  THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

This  narrative  of  the  fight  itself,  as  seen  by  Mrs. 
Heald  and  related  to  me  by  her  son,  is  marked  by  a  style  of 
severe  simplicity  and  good  faith  that  seems  to  command 
confidence  in  the  mind  of  the  reader.  There  is  no  point . 
in  the  artless  story  where  one  is  compelled  to  pause  tnd 
make  a  mental  allowance  for  the  bias  of  the  narrator,  for 
her  excitement  and  the  uncertainty  such  a  state  of  mind 
might  throw  over  her  accuracy,  or  even  for  the  errors 
(save  those  of  omission)  which  the  lapse  of  years  might 
have  caused.  All  seems  natural,  unforced  and  trust- 
worthy.    The  story  goes  on: 

In  the  meantime  her  horse,  which  had  become  excited  during 
the  tumult  by  the  smell  of  blood,  commenced  prancing  around,  and 
an  Indian  took  him  by  the  bit  and  led  him  down  to  the  corral,  or 
Indian  camp  near  the  fort.  [This  was  on  the  banks  of  a  slough 
which  entered  the  river  at  about  where  State  Street  bridge  now 
stands.]  Approaching  them,  an  Indian  squaw  caught  sight  of  the 
bright-red  blanket  which  was  girted  on  over  Mrs.  Heald's  saddle, 
for  camping  purposes,  and  immediately  attempted  to  take  it  for  her 
own.  Mrs.  Heald  resisted  vigorously,  and  although  one  hand  was 
entirely  useless  and  the  other  badly  injured,  she  took  her  switch 
and  with  it  struck  the  squaw  such  hard  blows  that  "white  welts 
were  raised  on  her  red  hide."  After  this  exhibition  of  spirit,  the 
Indian  who  had  hold  of  the  horse's  bit  again  shouted,  "Epeconier! 
Epecouier!"  and  it  is  probably  this  display  of  daring  which  saved 
Mrs.  Heald's  life,  and  perhaps  her  husband's  also. 

Rebekah  Wells  Heald  was  evidently  worthy  of  her 
name.  Daughter  of  Captain  Samuel  Wells,  niece  of  Cap- 
tain William  Wells,  wife  of  Captain  Nathan  Heald,  she 
was  a  woman  whom  the  sight  of  blood  could  not  daunt, 
the  smart  of  wounds  weaken,  or  the  fear  of  bereavement 
subdue.  (For  many  hours  after  the  battle  she  supposed 
herself  a  widow.)  Her  son  Darius  (her  mouthpiece  in 
this  narrative)  was  not  born  until  nine  years  after  that 
dreadful  day;  and  now  (1893),  in  his  seventy-third  year, 
he  shows  the  family  form  and  spirit.  Tall,  stalwart, 
erect  and  dignified,  he  is  a  typical  southern-westerner,  a 


SATURDAY,    AUGUST   FIFTEENTH.  37 

mighty  hunter  in  the  past  and  a   tower  of  patriarchal 
strength  in  his  old  age. 

When  she  was  brought  in,  after  being  captured  and  led  down 
among  the  Indians,  she  was  stripped  of  her  jewelry — rings,  breast- 
pin, ear-rings  and  comb.  She  was  badly  wounded,  and  was  cared 
for  that  night  (the  fifteenth  of  August)  as  tenderly  as  a  sister,  by  two 
or  three  squaws  and  one  French  woman,  who  did  everything  in 
their  power  to  relieve  her.  She  saw  nothing  of  her  jewelry  till  the 
next  morning,  when  a  brave  made  his  appearance  and  pranced 
around,  taking  great  pains  to  shew  that  he  was  wearing  her  comb 
in  his  scalp-lock — a  performance  fraught  with  difficulties,  as  he 
had  hardly  enough  hair  to  keep  it  in,  and  found  it  necessary  to  push 
it  back  from  time  to  time  to  prevent  it  from  falling  to  the  ground. 
Poor  black  Cicely  she  never  saw  again*.  She  had  perished  with  the 
rest.     Her  horse,  too,  was  gone  forever. 

This  horse  was  a  thoroughbred,  the  same  one  that  Mrs. 
Heald,  as  a  bride,  had  ridden  from  Kentucky  a  year  be- 
fore. The  Indians  had  always  looked  on  it  with  envious 
eyes,  and  had  employed  all  means,  lawful  and  otherwise, 
to  get  it  from  the  fort.  Now  it  was  theirs  by  conquest, 
and  no  later  efforts  availed  to  recover  it.  Doubtless  among 
its  new  owners  its  fate  was  hard  and  its  life  short.  One 
winter  of  starvation,  exposure  and  abuse  would  "hang  its 
hide  on  the  fence,"  even  while  its  wretched  Indian-pony 
companions  were  living  on  in  stubborn  endurance. 

It  turned  out  afterwards  that  the  Indians  took  their  booty  do;\n 
to  Peoria,  to  sell  and  "trade"  for  whisky,  and  it  found  its  way 
quickly  to  St.  Louis,  where  Colonel  O' Fallon  recognized  a  great 
deal  as  belonging  to  the  Healds,  and  redeemed  it  and  sent  it  to 
Colonel  Samuel  Wells  at  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio  [Louisville]  as  a 
memento  of  his  daughter  and  her  husband,  both  supposed  to  be 
dead.  It  reached  there  before  the  Healds  did,  and  the  articles  are 
now  in  possession  of  the  family  ;  most  of  them  were  shown  by 
Hon.  Darius  Heald  in  Chicago,  in  1892,  when  the  before-mentioned 
short-hand  transcript  of  his  mother's  story  was  made,  and  he  and 
his  precious  relics  were  photographed,  making  a  picture  hereinafter 
presented.     (See  Appendix  E.) 

The  Indian  who  led  Captain  Heald  down  to  the  camp  and 
claimed  him  as  his  prisoner,  was  a  half-breed  named  Chaudounais. 

*See  page  70. 


38  THE    CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

He  afterward  found  that  Mrs.  Heald  was  still  alive,  and,  it  is  sup- 
posed, ransomed  her  from  her  captor  ;  for,  on  the  morning  of  the 
sixteenth,  he  brought  the  husband  and  wife  together.  He  seems 
to  have  connived  at  the  escape  of  both,  for  they  found  the  matter 
wonderfully  easy — boat  and  escort  at  hand  and  all  oversight  with- 
drawn. Years  afterward,  in  1831,  Cnandonnais  visited  the  Healds 
at  their  home,  near  O'Fallon,  Missouri,  and  Darius  Heald  remem- 
bers his  father's  meeting  and  greeting  the  brave  who  had  so  nobly 
rescued  them.  It  is  thought  that  the  Indians  went  off  down  the 
lake  to  have  "a  general  frolic  " — in  other  words,  torture  to  death 
the  wounded  prisoners. 

Here  arises  before  the  mind's  eye  the  dim  and  cloudy 
vision  of  horror,  the  acme  of  the  tragedy,  all  the  more 
appalling  for  its  shrouding  mystery.  It  makes  the  flesh 
creep  and  the  hair  stand  on  end.  It  sears  the  heart 
against  the  race  whereof  it  was  the  inborn  nature  to 
feel  in  the  eyes  a  love  for  the  sight  of  mortal  agony, 
in  the  ears  an  eagerness  for  the  shriek  of  despairing 
anguish. 

The  wounded  not  included  !  The  helpless  picked  out 
for  torture  !  The  inflamed  hurts  to  be  deepened  with  a 
pitchfork  and  perhaps  further  and  mortally  inflamed  with 
a  burning  brand!  Kindly  Nature's  passing  lethargy  to 
be  quickened  into  conscious  death  in  frantic  anguish! 

The  twelve  militia- men  are  never  again  mentioned. 
They  are  as  if  they  had  never  been  born,  lived  and  toiled, 
never  volunteered,  never  served,  fought  and  fell.  How 
is  this  to  be  accounted  for  ?  Why  should  their  mortality 
be  twice  as  great  as  that  of  the  regulars  ?  Darkness  hides 
the  answer;  but  it  seems  not  unlikely  that  the  same  hellish 
ingenuity  which  held  that  "the  wounded  were  not  inclu- 
ded," may  also  have  held  that  men  not  wearing  the  uni- 
form were  not  protected  by  the  capitulation,  and  so  they 
perished  at  the  stake,  surrounded  by  the  "general  frolic" 
which  occupied  the  savages,  good  and  bad,  friendly  and 
inimical,  during  the  flight  of  the  Healds  and  Kinzies. 


SATURDAY,    AUGUST   FIFTEENTH.  39 

There  was  no  place  on  earth  for  a  race  which,  through 
all  its  history,  had  found  delight  in  the  spectacle  of  pain, 
which  inflicted  torture,  not  as  a  means  leading  to  some 
ulterior  object,  but  as  itself  a  source  of  joy  and  gladness. 
The  race  is  still  in  existence,  but  the  inhuman  part  of  its 
characteristics  are  being  refined  away,  leaving  some  of 
its  best  traits  in  the  more  advanced  of  its  present  repre- 
sentatives. Later  on  in  this  volume  mention  is  made  of 
its  standing  and  its  prospects  at  this  time. 

Now  to  take  up  again  the  Wau-Bun  narrative.  The 
torturing  incident,  already  given,  evidently  ends  the  story 
of  Mrs.  Helm's  personal  experiences;  all  that  follows  being 
what  others  professed  to  have  seen.  Yet  (possibly  by 
typographical  error)  the  quotation  marks,  which  began 
with  the  narration,  are  continued  much  further  on,  in- 
cluding paragraphs  wherein  she  is  spoken  of  in  the  third 
person.     (See  later.)     Mrs    Helm  says  : 

The  Americans,  after  the  first  attack  by  the  Indians,  charged 
upon  those  who  had  concealed  themselves  in  a  sort  of  ravine  inter- 
vening between  the  sandbanks  and  the  prairie.  The  latter  gathered 
themselves  into  a  body,  and  after  some  hard  fighting,  in  which  the 
number  of  whites  had  become  reduced  to  twenty-eight,  this  little 
band  succeeded  in  breaking  through  the  enemy  and  gaining  a 
rising  ground  not  far  from  the  oak  woods. 

The  contest  now  seemed  hopeless,  and  Lieutenant  Helm  sent 
Peresh  Leclerc,  a  half-breed  boy  in  the  service  of  Mr.  Kinzie,  who 
had  accompanied  the  detachment  and  for.ght  manfully  on  their 
side,  to  propose  terms  of  capitulation.  It  was  stipulated  that  the 
lives  of  all  the  survivors  should  be  spared  and  a  ransom  permitted 
as  soon  as  practicable. 

Lieutenant  Helm  made  the  terms  of  capitulation  ?  How 
could  that  be  while  Captain  Heald  was  present  ?  And 
what  is  to  be  done  with  Captain  Heald' s  statement  of 
October  7,  181 2,  less  than  three  months  after  the  event? 
It  reads  as  follows:  "The  Indians  did  not  follow  me 
but  assembled  in  a  body  on  the  top  of  the  bank,  and, 
after  some   consultation  among  themselves,  made  signs 


40  THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    1 8 12. 

for  me  to  approach  them.  I  advanced  toward  them 
alone  and  was  met  by  one  of  the  Pottowatomie  chief 
called  Black  Bird,  with  an  interpreter." 

The  reader  will  of  course  choose  between  the  two  state- 
ments according  to  his  judgement  of  probabilities  and 
internal  evidence  of  truthfulness.  Captain  Heald  cer- 
tainly cast  no  slur  on  Lieutenant  Helm,  and  appears  not 
even  to  have  entered  into  the  bitterness  of  feeling  against 
himself  and  his  unhappy  surgeon,  which  seems  to  have 
gone  on  rankling  through  all  the  twenty  years  that 
elapsed  between  the  direful  da)-  and  the  telling  of  the 
story  by  Mrs.  Helm  to  Mrs.  Kinzie. 

Mrs.  Helm's  expression,  "Peresh  Leclerc,  a  half-breed 
boy  in  the  service  of  Mr.  Kinzie  who  had  accompanied 
the  detachment  and  fought  manfully  on  their  side,"  leaves 
a  possible  ambiguity  as  to  whether  it  is  the  boy  or  his 
master  who  fought  manfully  on  the  side  of  the  whites. 

Next  follows  one  of  the  most  noteworthy  parts  of  all 
Mrs.  Helm's  narrative,  the  few  words  which  depict  the 
act  of  ferocity  by  which  the  occasion  has  been  given 
much  of  its  picturesque  and  terrible  individuality: 

But  in  the  meantime,  a  horrible  scene  had  been  enacted.  One 
young  savage,  climbing  into  the  baggage-wagon  containing  the 
children  of  the  white  families,  twelve  in  number,  tomahawked  the 
children  of  the  entire  group.* 

This  harrowing  tale  is  strongly  confirmed  by  Captain 
Heald's  estimate  of  losses  as  given  in  his  letter  of  Oct. 
seventh  (already  quoted),  which  he  states  as  follows  : 
11  Our  strength  was  about  fifty-four  regulars  and  twelve 
militia,  out  of  which  twenty-six  regulars  and  twelve  militia 
were  killed  in  action,  with  two  women  and  twelve  children. 
Ensign  George  Ronan  and  Dr.  Isaac  V.  Van  Vorhees,  of 
my  company,  with  Captain  Wells  of  Fort  Wayne,  to  my 
great  sorrow  are  numbered  among  the  dead.     Lieutenant 

*See  Appendix  G  for  the  story  of  one  of  the  scalped  children. 


SATURDAY,    AUGUST   FIFTEENTH.  41 

L,inai  T.  Helm,  with  twenty-five  non-commissioned  offi- 
cers and  privates,  and  eleven  women  and  children,  were 
prisoners  when  we  separated." 

The  next  part  of  Mrs.  Helm's  narrative  is  remarkably 
at  variance  with  the  stern,  true-seeming  and  circum- 
stantial account  of  Captain  Wells'  death  given  by  Mrs. 
Heald.  Mrs  Helm  says  (following  the  statement  of  the 
slaughter  of  the  innocents)  : 

This  was  during  the  engagement  near  the  sand-hills.  When 
Captain  Wells,  who  was  fighting  near,  beheld  it,  he  exclaimed, 
"  Is  that  your  game,  butchering  women  and  children  ?  Then  I 
will  kill  too  !  "  So  saying,  he  turned  his  horse's  head  and  started 
for  the  Indian  camp  near  the  fort,  where  had  been  left  their  squaws 
and  children.  Several  Indians  pursued  him  as  he  galloped  along. 
He  laid  himself  flat  on  the  neck  of  his  horse,  loading  and  firing  in 
that  position  as  he  would  occasionally  turn  on  his  pursuers.  At 
length  their  balls  took  effect,  killing  his  horse  and  severely  wound- 
ing himself.  At  this  moment  he  was  met  by  Winnemeg  and  Wau- 
ban-see  who  endeavored  to  save  him  from  the  savages  who  had 
now  overtaken  him.  As  they  supported  him  along,  after  having 
disengaged  him  from  his  horse,  he  received  his  death  blow  from 
another  Indian,  Pee-so-tum,  who  stabbed  him  in  the  back. 

When  we  observe  the  incongruities  of  this  tale  (not  to 
speak  of  its  contradiction  by  Mrs.  Heald' s  report)  such  as 
the  witnessing  by  Captain  Wells  of  the  wagon  slaughter 
(at  a  time  when  we  know  he  was  far  away  inland,  fight- 
ing at  the  head  of  the  troops)  ;  of  his  alleged  dastardly 
flight  from  the  field  toward  the  Indian  camp  a  mile-and- 
a-half  away,  with  the  avowed  intention  of  killing  the 
squaws  and  pappooses  ;  his  being  overtaken  on  horse- 
back by  pursuing  enemies  on  foot  ;  his  being  held  up  by 
two  Indians  while  a  third  stabbed  him  in  the  back,  the 
third  being  the  very  one  who  helped  Mrs.  Helm  to  reach 
the  fort ;  we  are  only  glad  to  remember  that  the  narrator 
did  not  mean  to  have  us  understand  that  she  witnessed 
the  occurrences  she  relates.  Internal  evidence  leads  us 
to  suspect  that  the  story  came  to   her  from  the   lips   of 


42  THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    1812. 

lying  Indians,  eager  to  magnify  to  Mr.  Kinzie  their 
deeds  of  valor  and  of  kindness,  and  perhaps  justify  their 
treatment  of  poor  Wells,  alive  and  dead.  Pee-so-tum 
may  have  killed  and  scalped  Wells,  but  it  surely  was 
not  under  such  circumstances  as  those  above  set  forth. 
Not  even  the  best  friends  of  the  Indian  claim  for  him 
any  appreciation  of  the  virtue  of  mere  veracity.  Personal 
faithfulness  of  the  most  touching  character  he  often 
showed.  Even  the  keeping  of  promises,  often  at  the  cost 
of  great  personal  sacrifice,  has  been  known  as  a  striking 
and  admirable  trait.  But  "  truth  for  truth's  sake"  is 
beyond  him — as  it  is,  indeed,  beyond  the  great  mass  of 
mankind. 

The  Wau-Bun  story  of  the  experiences  of  the  Kinzie 
family  bears  evidences  of  authenticity  and  reasonable 
accuracy,  as  might  be  expected  from  the  fact  that  Mrs. 
John  H.  Kinzie  probably  got  it  directly  from  her  husband's 
mother,  Mrs.  John  Kinzie,  who  was  alive  at  the  time 
when  it  was  first  written. 

Those  of  the  family  of  Mr.  Kinzie  who  had  remained  in  the  boat 
near  the  mouth  of  the  river  were  carefully  guarded  by  Kee-po-tah 
and  another  Indian.  They  had  seen  the  smoke,  then  the  blaze, 
and,  immediately  after,  the  report  of  the  tremendous  discharge 
sounded  in  their  ears.  Then  all  was  confusion.  They  realized 
nothing  until  they  saw  an  Indian  come  towards  them  from  the 
battle-ground  leading  a  horse  on  which  sat  a  lady,  apparently 
wounded. 

"That  is  Mrs.  Heald,"  cried  Mrs.  Kinzie.  "That  Indian  will 
kill  her.  Run  Chaudonuais,"  to  one  of  Mr.  Kinzie's  clerks,  "Take 
the  mule  that  is  tied  there  and  offer  it  to  him  to  release  her." 

Her  captor  by  this  time  was  in  the  act  of  disengaging  her  bonnet 
from  her  head  in  order  to  scalp  her.  Chandonnais  ran  up,  offered 
the  mule  as  a  ransom,  with  the  promise  of  two  bottles  of  whisky 
as  soon  as  they  should  reach  his  village.  The  latter  was  a  strong 
temptation.  "  But,"  said  the  Indian,  "She  is  badly  wounded — she 
will  die — will  you  give  me  the  whisky  at  all  events?"  Chandon- 
nais promised  he  would,  and  the  bargain  was  concluded.  The 
savage  placed  the  lady's  bonnet  on  his  own  head  and  after  an  in- 


SATURDAY,    AUGUST   FIFTEENTH.  43 

effectual  effort  on  the  part  of  some  squaws  to  rob  her  of  her  shoes 
aud  stockiugs,  she  was  brought  on  board  the  boat,  where  she  lay 
moaning  with  pain  from  the  many  wounds  she  had  received  in 
both  arms. 

In  this  narrative  the  Indian  bargains  that  he  shall  have 
his  booty  whether  the  prisoners  live  or  die.  This  stipu- 
lation indicates  the  savage's  view  of  the  value  of  a  pris- 
oner. If  likely  to  live,  and  therefore  exchangeable  for 
ransom,  then  his  life  might  be  spared;  if  not,  then  he 
belonged  to  his  captor  and  could  be  used  for  the  keen  de- 
light of  torture.  This  is  probably  the  idea  which  inspired 
the  hellish  notion  of  the  exclusion  of  the  wounded  from 
Captain  Heald's  capitulation.  For  the  unhurt  they  could 
get  ransom,  therefore  they  would  spare  their  lives.  But 
the  wounded!  Why  spare  them?  They  are  not  mer- 
chantable. Nobody  will  give  anything  for  a  dead  man. 
The  dying  are  available  for  only  one  profit — torture. 

When  the  boat  was  at  length  permitted  to  return  to  the  mansion 
of  Mr.  Kinzie,  and  Mrs.  Heald  was  removed  to  the  house,  it  be- 
came necessary  to  dress  her  wounds.  Mr.  K.  applied  to  an  old 
chief  who  stood  by,  and  who,  like  most  of  his  tribe,  possessed  some 
skill  in  surgery,  to  extract  a  ball  from  the  arm  of  the  sufferer.  "  No, 
father,"  he  replied,  "  I  cannot  do  it;  it  makes  me  sick  here,"  laying 
his  hand  on  his  heart.  Mr.  Kinzie  then  performed  the  operation 
himself  with  his  penknife. 

The  discrepancy  observable  between  this  account  and 
that  of  Mrs.  Heald  herself,  which  says  that  on  that  night 
she  was  cared  for  by  squaws  in  the  Indian  encampment, 
may  be  explained  away  by  supposing  that  it  was  on  the 
following  day,  after  the  Kinzies  had  got  back  to  their 
home  on  the  north  bank,  that  Mrs.  Kinzie  caught  sight 
of  her  friend  and  sent  Chandonnais  to  her  rescue  in  one 
of  the  boats  they  always  used  for  passing  and  repassing 
the  river,  at  about  where  Rush  Street  bridge  now  stands. 
The  fact  that  no  mule  could  well  have  been  tied  where 
the  boat  lay  offshore,  near  the  river's  mouth,  makes  this 
seem  the  probable  explanation  of  the  incongruity. 


44  THE    CHICAGO    MASSACRE    OF    l8l2. 

At  their  own  mansion  the  family  of  Mr.  Kinzie  were 
closely  guarded  by  their  Indian  friends,  whose  intention 
it  was  to  carry  them  to  Detroit  for  security.  The  rest  of 
the  prisoners  remained  at  the  wigwams  of  their  captors. 

Mrs.  Helm,  Mr.  Kinzie's  step-daughter,  must  have  been 
among  those  once  more  housed  at  the  historic  building  of 
squared  logs  built  about  1776,  by  Pointe  de  Saible.  This 
house  was  still  standing  when  the  village  had  become,  in 
name  at  least,  a  city,  which  it  did  in  1837,  Mr.  Kinzie 
had  planted  a1ongits  front  four  poplar  trees,  and  they  ap- 
pear in  the  early  pictures  of  Chicago.  Doubtless,  if  one 
were  to  dig  in  the  open  space  on  the  east  side  of  Pine 
St: eet,  at  its  junction  with  Kinzie  street,  the  old  roots 
would  be  found  to  this  day  (1893),  and  there  are  prob- 
ably a  hundred  living  Chicagoans  who  remember  having 
seen  the  house  itself. 

The  following  morning,  the  work  of  plunder  having  been  com- 
pleted, the  Indians  set  fire  to  the  fort.  A  very  fair,  equitable  dis- 
tribution of  the  finery  appeared  to  have  been  made,  and  shawls, 
ribbons  and  feathers  fluttered  about  in  all  directions.  The  ludi- 
crous appearance  of  one  young  fellow,  who  had  arrayed  himself  in 
a  muslin  gown  and  the  bonnet  of  one  of  the  ladies,  would,  under 
other  circumstances,  have  afforded  matter  of  amusement. 

Black  Partridge,  Wau  ban-see  and  Kee-po  tali,  with  two  other 
Indians,  having  established  themselves  in  the  porch  of  the  building 
as  sentinels,  to  protect  the  family  from  any  evil  the  young  men 
might  be  excited  to  commit,  all  remained  tranquil  for  a  short  space 
after  the  conflagration.  Very  soon,  however,  a  party  of  Indians 
from  the  Wabash  made  their  appearance.  These  were,  decidedly, 
the  most  hostile  and  implacable  of  all  the  tribes  of  the  Pottowato- 
mies.  Being  more  remote,  they  had  shared  less  than  some  of  their 
brethren  in  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Kinzie  and  his  family,  and  conse- 
quently their  sentiments  of  regard  for  them  were  less  powerful. 

The  Wabash  Indians  must  have  been  smarting  with  the 
terrible  defeat  inflicted  on  them  only  about  one  year 
before,  when  General  Harrison,  whose  confidential  agent 
poor  Wells  had  been,  fought  them  at  Tippecanoe,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Wabash  River 


SATURDAY,    AUGUST   FIFTEENTH.  45 

Runners  bad  been  sent  to  tbe  villages  to  apprise  tbem  of  tbe 
intended  evacuation  of  tbe  post,  as  well  as  of  tbe  plans  of  tbe  In- 
dians assembled  to  attack  tbe  troops.  Thirsting  to  participate  in 
such  a  scene,  they  hurried  on,  and  great  was  their  mortification  on 
arriving  at  the  Aux  Plair.es  [Des  Plaines  River]  to  meet  with  a 
party  of  their  friends  bearing  with  tbem  Nee  scot-nee-meg  badly 
wounded,  and  to  learn  that  the  battle  was  over,  tbe  spoils  divided 
and  tbe  scalps  all  taken.  On  arriving  at  Chicago  they  blackened 
their  faces  and  proceeded  toward  the  dwelling  of  Mr.  Kinzie. . 

From  his  station  on  the  piazza,  Black  Partridge  had  watched 
their  approach,  and  his  fears  were  particularly  awakened  for  the 
safety  of  Mrs.  Helm  (Mr.  Kinzie's  stepdaughter),  who  bad  recently 
come  to  the  post  and  was  personally  unknown  to  the  more  remote 
Indians.*  By  his  advice  she  was  made  to  assume  the  ordinary  dress 
of  a  French  woman  of  the  country;  namely,  a  short  gown  and  petti- 
coat, with  a  blue  cotton  handkerchief  wrapped  around  her  head.  In 
this  disguise  she  was  conducted  by  Black  Partridge  himself  to  the 
house  of  Ouilmette,  a  Frenchman  with  a  half-breed  wife,  who 
formed  part  of  the  establishment  of  Mr.  Kinzie,  and  whose  dwelling 
was  close  at  hand.  It  so  happened  that  the  Indians  came  first  to 
this  house  in  their  search  for  prisoners.  As  they  approached,  the 
inmates,  fearful  that  the  fair  complexion  and  general  appearance 
of  Mrs.  Helm  might  betray  her  for  an  American,  raised  a  large 
feather  bed  and  placed  her  under  the  edge  of  it,  upon  the  bedstead, 
with  her  face  to  tbe  wall.  Mrs.  Bisson,  tbe  sister  of  Ouilmette's 
wife,  then  seated  herself  with  her  sewing  on  the  edge  of  the  bed.  It 
was  a  hot  day  in  August,  and  tbe  feverish  excitement  of  fear  and 
agitation,  together  with  her  position,  which  was  nearly  suffocating, 
became  so  intolerable  that  at  length  Mrs.  Helm  entreated  to  be  re- 
leased and  given  up  to  tbe  Indians. 

*Although  this,  as  well  as  the  earlier  part  of  the  account  (where  Mrs.  Helm 
speaks  in  the  first  person^  appears  in  Wau-Bunin  continuous  quotation  marks, 
it  is  manifest  that  the  whole  later  portion  is  a  separate  recital.  Several  inter- 
esting anecdotes  are  given  in  detail,  but  for  them  the  reader  must  look  to  the 
delightful  original  volume  which,  though  not  in  the  market,  can  be  found  in 
the  Chicago  Historical  Society's  collection,  and  also  in  many  private  libraries, 
especially  among  those  Chicagoans  who  were  not  burned  out  in  the  great  fire 
ofi.871.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  some  of  Mrs.  Kinzie's  descendants  will  cause  a 
new  edition  to  be  published  for  the  benefit  of  later  comers,  who  will  look  to  it 
for  amusement  (and also  instruction)  concerning  times  and  scenes  so  unlike 
those  now  around  them  as  to  seem  to  have  happened  on  another  planet,  in- 
stead of  on  the  very  soil  they  tread.     (Munsell's  Hist.  Chic.) 

The  words  used  imply  that  the  s'ep-daughter  had  not  habitually  formed  part 
of  the  family  of  John  Kinzie  at  Chicago. 


46  THK   CHICAGO   MASSACRE    OF    l8l2 

"  I  can  but  die,"  said  she;  "let  them  put  an  end  to  my  misery  at 
once." 

Mrs.  Bisson  replied:  "  Your  death  would  be  the  destruction  of 
us  all,  for  Black  Partridge  has  resolved  that  if  one  drop  of  the  blood 
of  your  family  is  spilled,  he  will  take  the  lives  of  all  concerned  in 
it,  even  his  nearest  friends  ;  and  if  once  the  work  of  murder  com- 
mences there  will  be  no  end  of  it  so  long  as  there  remains  one 
white  person  or  half-breed  in  the  country." 

This  expostulation  nerved  Mrs.  Helm  with  fresh  resolution.  The 
Indians  entered,  and  she  could  occasionally  see  them  from  her  hid- 
ing-place, gliding  about,  stealthily  inspecting  every  part  of  the 
room,  though  without  making  any  ostensible  search,  until,  appar- 
ently satisfied  that  there  was  no  one  concealed,  they  left  the  house. 

All  this  time  Mrs.  Bisson  had  kept  her  seat  upon  the  side  of  the 
bed,  calmly  basting  and  arranging  the  patchwork  of  the  quilt  on 
which  she  was  engaged,  and  preserving  the  appearance  of  the  ut- 
most tranquility,  although  she  knew  not  but  that  the  next  moment 
she  might  receive  a  tomahawk  in  her  brain.  Her  self-command 
unquestionably  saved  the  lives  of  all  present. 

From  Ouilmette's  house  the  party  of  Indians  proceeded  to  the 
dwelling  of  Mr.  Kinzie.  They  entered  the  parlor,  in  which  the 
family  were  assembled  wTith  their  faithful  protectors,  and  seated 
themselves  upon  the  floor  in  silence. 

Black  Partridge  perceived,  from  their  moody  and  revengeful 
looks,  what  was  passing  in  their  minds,  but  he  dared  not  remon- 
strate with  them.    He  only  observed,  in  a  low  tone,  to  Wau- ban-see  : 

"We  have  endeavored  to  save  our  friends,  but  it  is  vain;  noth- 
ing will  save  them  now." 

At  this  moment  a  friendly  whoop  was  heard  from  a  party  of 
new-comers  on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  river.  Black  Partridge 
hastened  to  meet  their  leader,  as  the  canoe  in  which  they  had  has- 
tily embarked  touched  the  bank  near  the  house. 

"Who are  you  ?"  demanded  he, 

"  A  man;  who  are  you?" 

"A  man  like  yourself;  but  tell  me  w/ioyou  are" — meaning,  "tell 
me  your  disposition,  and  which  side  you  are  for." 

"lam  the  Sau-ga-nash." 

"Then  make  all  speed  to  the  house;  your  friend  is  in  danger  and 
you  alone  can  save  him." 

Billy  Caldwell,  the  "  Sau-ga-nash,"  or  Englishman, 
was  son  of  Colonel  Caldwell,  a  British  officer  stationed  at 


SATURDAY,    AUGUST   FIFTEENTH.  47 

Detroit,  his  mother  being  a  beautiful  Pottowatomie  girl. 
He  was  educated  by  his  father,  though  serving  his  moth- 
er's race  as  a  chief  of  the  Pottowatomies.  (There  were 
always  many  "chiefs.")  He  fought  under  Tecumseh 
against  the  whites  under  Wayne — "Mad  Anthony,"  as 
he  was  often  called,  "Old  Tempest,"  as  Caldwell  him- 
self calls  him* — also  at  the  Battle  of  the  Thames,  in 
1 813,  when  Harrison  fought  and  defeated  the  combined 
forces  of  British  and  Indians,  and  the  famous  chief, 
Tecumseh,  was  killed.  He  took  part  in  the  treaty  of 
Greenville,  in  1796,  and  that  of  Chicago,  in  1833;  a  long 
space  of  historic  time,  covering  a  racial  struggle  of  many 
thrilling  incidents,  not  a  thousandth  part  of  which  can 
ever  see  the  light.  They  are  buried  in  blood,  smoke, 
flame  and  darkness.  At  this  time,  it  will  be  observed, 
Caldwell  was  an  ally  of  the  English. 

Billy  Caldwell,  for  it  was  he,  entered  the  parlor  with  a  calm 
step,  and  without  a  trace  of  agitation  in  his  manner.  He  deliber- 
ately took  off  his  accoutrements  and  placed  them,  with  his  rifle, 
behind  the  door,  and  then  saluted  the  hostile  savages. 

"How  now,  my  friends  ?  A  good  day  to  you!  I  w7as  told  there 
were  enemies  here,  but  I  am  glad  to  find  only  friends.  Why  have 
you  blackened  your  faces?  Is  it  that  you  are  mourning  for  those 
friends  you  have  lost  in  battle?"  (purposely  misunderstanding  this 
token  of  evil  designs)  "or  is  it  that  you  are  fasting  ?  If  so,  ask  our 
friend  here,  and  he  will  give  you  to  eat.  He  is  the  Indians'  friend, 
and  never  yet  refused  them  what  they  had  need  of." 

Thus  taken  by  surprise,  the  savages  were  ashamed  to  acknowl- 
edge their  bloody  purpose.  They  therefore  said  modestly  that  they 
came  to  beg  of  their  friends  some  white  cotton  in  which  to  wrap 
their  dead  before  interring  them.  This  was  given  to  them,  with 
some  other  presents,  and  they  took  their  departure  peaceably  from 
the  premises. 

The  remainder  of  both  the  Wau-Bun  and  Heald  narra- 
tives is  devoted  to  the  flight  from  Chicago  and  the  later 
fate  of  the  fugitives.  Before  closing  this  part  of  my  story, 
I  will  give  the  following  bit  coming  from  another  source. 

♦See  Appendix  H. 


48  THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

Near  the  (present)  north  end  of  State  Street  bridge 
stood  a  log  house  known  to  history  and  tradition  as 
"  Cobweb  Castle  ;"  a  name  probably  given  to  it  after  the 
rebuilding  of  the  fort  in  1816,  and  after  it  had  become 
superannuated  and  superseded.  Mrs.  Callis,  daughter  of 
Mr.  Jouett,  who  came  here  with  him  about  18 17,  says 
of  it :  "The  house  in  which  my  father  lived,  was  built 
before  the  massacre  of  18 12  ;  I  know  this  from  the  fact 
that  'White  Elk,'  an  Indian  chief,  the  tallest  Indian  I 
ever  saw,  was  frequently  pointed  out  to  me  as  the  savage 
who  had  dashed  out  the  brains  of  the  children  of  Sukey 
Corbin  (a  camp  follower  and  washerwoman)  against  the 
side  of  this  very  house.  Mrs.  Jouett  told  her  daughter 
of  a  frantic  mother  (perhaps  the  same  Mrs.  Corbin),  a 
former  acquaintance  of  hers,  who,  on  that  occasion  f  mght 
the  monster  all  the  while  the  butchery  was  going  on,  and 
who,  in  her  turn,   fell  a  victim  herself." 

This  would  indicate  that  some  of  the  citizens  (beside 
the  Kinzies,  Healds  and  Helms)  got  back  to  the  settle- 
ment after  the  collision  at  the  sand-hills,  and  that  they 
found  at  their  old  homes  no  sanctuary,  no  rest,  no  mercy, 
no  hope. 

It  is  to  be  observed  that,  as  the  Jouetts  were  not  on 
the  spot  at  the  time  of  the  massacre,  this  part  of  the  story 
has  not  the  degree  of  authenticity  attaching  to  the  reports 
of  the  Healds  and  Helms.  The  treaty  of  1817  gives, 
among  the  Pottowatomie  signers,  the  Indian  name  of 
"the  White  Elk"  as  "Wa-bin-she-way." 


Everything  connected  with  the  massacre  itself,  so  far 
as  existing  testimony  has  come  to  light,  has  now  been 
told.  There  is  a  possibility  that  one  other  document 
may  be  hidden  away  ;  an  account  written  by  Lieutenant 
Helm.     But  this,  if  ever  found,  will  necessarily  be  iden- 


SATURDAY,    AUGUST   FIFTEENTH.  49 

tical,  in  all  important  particulars  with  the  story  told  by 
his  widow  and  printed  in  Wan  Bun.* 

The  day  which  dawned  so  bright  has  dragged  through 
its  bloody  hours  and  come  to  its  dark  and  hideous  close. 
The  dead,  men,  women  and  children,  are  at  peace.  The 
wounded  are  suffering  the  torments  of  the  pit,  the  rest 
are  shuddering  in  the  uncertainties  that  lie  before  them. 
The  Indians  are  riotously  happy  ;  for  have  they  not  done 
harm?  Have  they  not  killed,  scalped,  destroyed,  wrasted, 
life  and  property  ?  Have  they  not  annihilated  the  source 
whence  they  had  been  getting  arms,  ammunition  and 
blankets,  and  driven  off  the  men  who  tried  to  keep 
whisky  from  them  ?  Have  they  not  made  a  solitude  and 
called  it  war  ?  The  goods  are  scattered.  The  fort  is 
burned.  The  cattle  are  dead  or  dying.  The  soldiers 
are  defeated,  slain  or  held  as  prisoners,  for  ranson  if  un- 
hurt, for  torture  if  disabled.  The  babes  are  brained  and 
their  mothers  dead  or  desolate.  What  more  ' '  happy 
hunting  ground  ' '  is  possible  to  them  this  side  of  hades 
itself? 

In  "Wau-Bun,"  one  seems  to  hear  them  telling  of 
their  individual  good  deeds  and  attributing  all  evil  deeds 
to  each  other.  For  the  Indian's  hand  was  against  every 
man,  even  all  other  Indians.  Their  bloodiest  wars  have 
been  between  themselves  ;  wars  of  absolute  extermina- 
tion for  the  beaten  party.     Every  tribe  held  its  lands  by 

*  lieutenant  then  Captain)  Helm  is  said  to  have  died  at  or  near  Bath, 
Steuben  Co.,  N.  Y.,  about  1S17.  His  widow  married,  at  St.  James  church, 
Chicago,  in  1S36,  Dr.  Lucius  Abbott,  of  Detroit.  Therefore  any  papers  left  by 
the  Helms  should  br  sought  for  in  the  last  named  city. 

Edward  G.  Mason  tells  me  that  there  is,  or  was,  among  the  papers  of  the  De- 
troit Historical  Society,  a  letter  from  lieutenant  Helm  to  Augustus  B.  Wood- 
ward, Esq.,  at  Washington  City,  in  which  the  writer  says  that  he  has  nearly 
completed  the  history  of  the  Chicago  massacre,  and  that  he  (Woodward)  may 
expect  it  in  two  weeks.  The  letter  was  dated  Flemington,  New  Jersey,  June 
6,  1 8 1 4 .  Mr.  Mason  thinks  the  letter  intimates  that  the  publication  of  the 
histor}'  may  subject  the  writer  to  court-martial.  Possibly  this  note  may  bring 
tc  light  the  lost  history  in  question  ;  a  thing  much  to  be  desired. 


50  THK   CHICAGO    MASSACRK    OF    l8l2. 

conquest  and  by  force.  Even  if  we  had  taken  them  by 
the  sword,  without  compensation  (which  we  never  did), 
they  would  only  have  lost  their  holdings  by  the  self- 
same means  by  which  they  had  gained  them. 

Well  is  it  for  the  kindlier  folk  that  the  cruel  did  not 
stick  together.  If  they  had  done  so,  we  should  be  a 
hundred  years  in  time  and  a  thousand  miles  in  space 
further  back  in  our  territorial  progress.  But  they  could 
not  combine.  "You  might  as  well  try  to  boil  flints  into 
a  pudding." 


It  still  remains  to  me  to  trace,  so  far  as  it  is  not 
shrouded  in  oblivion,  the  fate  of  the  survivors.  But  as 
this  leads  some  distance  into  the  future,  I  have  thought 
best  to  treat  the  matter  separately  ;  prefacing  the  story  of 
what  followed  the  tragedy  by  a  short  sketch  of  what  pre- 
ceded and  led  up  to  it.  Why  did  those  brave  and  hapless 
beings  come  here?  How  came  they  here?  What 
brought  their  few  and  scattered  footprints  to  the  ground 
since  then  trodden  by  millions  ? 

The  following  pages  will  try  to  answer  these  questions, 
beginning  with  the  very  earliest  permanent  settlement 
of  what  is  now  Chicago. 


PART    SECOND. 

HISTORICAL   AND    BIOGRAPHICAL 


HOW   CHICAGO   BEGAN   AND   WHO   WERE  ITS  BEGINNERS. 


PART  SECOND. 

CHAPTER  I. 

THE  DARK  BEFORE  THE  DAWN. 


ESOLUTELY,  though  un- 
willingly, I  pass  over  the 
romantic  history  of  the  first 
century  of  Chicago's  annals, 
the  French  period  beginning 
about  1678,  embracing  the 
thrilling  story  of  La  Salle, 
Marquette  and  their  brave 
fellow  Catholics.  Let  us  take  up 
the  tale  when,  in  1778,  during  the 
Revolutionary  war;  just  as  the 
y^  Jfi  great  George  Rogers  Clark  was 
&&>  capturing  Indiana,  Illinois  and  in 
5T  fact  the  whole  Northwest,  from  the 
^  English  ;  one  Colonel  Arent  Schuy- 
'X*  ler  de  Peyster  (a  New  York  officer 
*ih  of  the  British  army,  in  command 
of  Fort  Mackinac)  wrote  some 
doggerel  verses  which  bring  Chi- 
cago into  modern  history  and  literature.*  In  one  of 
his  poems  he  speaks  of  "  Eschickagou  "  and  of  Jean 
Baptiste  Pointe  de  Saible  who  lived  there,  and  in  a  foot- 
note he  describes  the  place  as  ' '  a  river  and  fort  at  the 
head  of  Lake  Michigan,"  and  the  man  as  "  a  handsome 
negro,"  well  educated,  but  much  in  the  French  interest." 

*See  appendix  A.  After  the  peace,  Colonel  de  Peyster  retired  to  Scotland 
and  lived  in  or  near  Dumfries;  and  it  is  in  his  honor  that  Burns  wrote  his 
verses  "To  Colonel  de  Peyster,"  beginning 

"  My  honored  Colonel,    much  I  feel 
Thy  interest  in  the  poet's  weal." 

53 


EARLY  JESUIT. 


54  THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

The  fort  spoken  of  by  Colonel  dePeyster,  if  it  had  any 
existence,  must  have  been  a  mere  stockaded  trading- 
post  ,  for  neither  by  English  nor  by  French  forces  had  it 
been  built,  and  as  to  American  forces,  there  were  none 
west  of  the  Alleghanies  except  Clark  with  his  few  score 
of  heroic  frontiers-men.  Fort  Dearborn  came  twenty- 
six  years  later,  as  we  shall  see. 

The  word  ' '  Chicago ' '  in  some  of  its  many  forms  of 
spelling*  had  been  in  recognized  existence  for  a  century, 
being  found  in  the  scanty  and  precious  records  left  by 
Marquette,  La  Salle  and  their  contemporaries,  though 
they  first  call  the  stream  the  "  Portage  River." 

Much  discussion  has  arisen  about  the  word  and  its 
meaning,  but  the  preponderance  of  testimony  seems  to 
point  to  the  conclusion  that  the  river  took  its  name  from 
the  wild  onion,  leek  or  garlick  that  grew  in  profusion 
along  its  banks  in  all  this  region,  and  is  still  to  be  found 
in  many  neglected  spots  of  original  soil.  Bold  Tonti, 
La  Salle's  faithful  lieutenant,  speaks  of  having  been 
nourished  during  his  long  tramp  from  the  Illinois  River 
to  Green  Bay  by  a  weed  much  like  the  leek  of  France, 
which  they  dug  up  with  their  fingers  and  ate  as  they 
walked — surely  the  chi-ca-gou. 

The  first  official  mention  of  the  word  "  Chicago  "  was 
in  the   "  Treaty  of  Greenville  ;"  a  compact  made  in  1795 


*Hurlbut's  "  Antiquities  "  discusses  the  name  with  great  and  amusing  par- 
ticularity Here  are  some  of  the  variations  he  gives  in  its  spelling  and  its 
meaning.  Chicagowunzh,  the  wild  onion  or  leek;  (Schoolcraft).  Checaqua; 
a  line  of  chiefs  of  the  Tamaroa  Indians,  signifying  strong.  Chigaakwa,  "  the 
woods  are  thin."  Checagou,  Chicagou,  Marquette  and  L,aSalle.  Shikakok, 
"at  the  skunk."  Chi-ka-go,  wild  onion.  Chikagou,  an  Indian  chief  who 
went  to  Paris  (before  1752)  where  the  Duchess  of  Orleans,  at  Versailles,  gave 
him  a  splendid  snuff  box.  Chicagou,  M.  DeLigny  in  a  letter  to  M.  DeSiette. 
Checaqua,  "the  Thunder  God."  Chacaqua,  ''Divine  River."  Chicagua  or 
Skunk  river  (in  Iowa).  Chicago,  skunk,  onion  or  smelling  thing;  (Gordon  S. 
Hubbard).  Chicagoua,  equivalent  of  the  Chippewa  Jikag;  "bete  puante." 
Zhegahg,  a  skunk.  Eschikagou;  (Col.  De  Peyster).  Portage  de  Chegakou. 
Chikajo.  Chi-kaug-ong;  (Schoolcraft).    Chicazo,  corruption  of  Chickasaw. 


THE  DARK  BEFORE  THE  DAWN. 


55 


between  the  Indians  and  "  Mad  Anthony  "  Wayne,  who 
had  lately  whipped  them  into  a  treaty-making  frame  of 
mind.  This  treaty  placed  the  boundary  line  between  the 
whites  and  the  Indians  east  of  the  entire  state  of  Indiana, 
but  excepted  and  retained  for  trading  posts  several 
isolated  sections  west  of  the  line,  among  them  "one 
piece  of  land  six  miles  square  at  the  mouth  of  Chicago 
River,  emptying  into  the  southwestern  end  of  Lake 
Michigan,  where  a  fort  formerly  stood." 

"Me-che  kan-nah-quah"  or  "Little  Turtle,"  who  took 
a  prominent  part  in  the  making  of  the  treaty,  was  the 
father-in-law  of  William  Wells,  the  hero-martyr  of  the 
massacre,  as  has  been  set  forth  in  Part  I. 

Baptiste  Pointe  de 
Saible,  some  time  in 
the  last  century,  built 
a  log  house  on  the 
north  bank  of  the  Chi- 
cago River,  near  Lake 
Michigan,  just  where 
Pine  street  now  ends. 
This  modest  dwelling 
existed  through  vicis- 
situdes many  and  ter- 
rible. When  built,  it 
stood  in  a  vast  soli- 
tude. North  of  it  were 
thick  woods  which 
covered  the  whole  of 
what  is  now  Chicago's  proud  "North  Side."  In  front 
of  it  lay  the  narrow,  deep  and  sluggish  creek  which 
forms  the  main  river;  and,  with  its  two  long,  straggling 
branches,    gives  the  city   its   inestimable   harbor,*  with 

*The  city  has,  besides,  another  harbor  along  the  Calumet  lake  and  river, 
some  ten  miles  to  the  southward,  which,  when  fully  improved,  will  exceed 
the  first  named  in  extent  and  value. 


LITTLE   TURTLE  -ME-CHE-KAX-NAH  QUAH. 


56  THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

twenty-seven  miles  of  dock  frontage.  Beyond  it, 
stretching  indefinitely  southward,  lay  the  grassy  flat 
now  the  ' '  South  Side, ' '  the  business  centre  and  wealthiest 
residence  portion.     Westward,   beyond   the    north    and 

south  branches  of 
the  river,  stretched 
the  illimitable  prai- 
rie, including  what 
at  the  present  time 
is  the  "West  Side," 
the  home  of  manu- 
facturing enterprise 
and  of  a  population 
larger  than  that  of 
the  two  other  por- 
tions put  together. 
And  to  the  east- 
ward lay  the  lake  ; 


<s 


the    only    thing  in 

(vdSlfc^  nature  which  Jean 

„  „  Baptiste  could  rec- 

From  "Cyclopaedia  of  United  States  History."— Copyright.  * 

1881.  by  Harper  *   Hrother*.  Ogllize   if    he    ShOllld 

GENERAL   ANTHONY  WAYNE.  ,  .-, 

now  return  to  the 
scene  of  his  long,  lonely,  half  savage,  half  civilized 
sojourn. 

Suppose  him  to  have  built  his  log  dwelling  in  1778, 
the  very  year  when  Colonel  de  Peyster  luckily  makes  a 
note  of  his  existence ;  all  about  him  must  have  been  a 
waste  place  so  far  as  human  occupation  is  concerned. 
Bands  of  roaming  Indians  from  time  to  time  appeared 
and  disappeared.  French  trappers  and  voyageurs  doubt- 
less made  his  house  their  halting-place.  Fur-traders' 
canoes,  manned  by  French  "voyageurs,"  "engages"  and 
"  coureursdes  bois,"  paddling  the  great  lakes  and  uncon- 
sciously laying  the    foundation    of  the   Astor  fortunes, 


THE   DARK   BEFORE   THE   DAWN.  57 

called,  from  time  to  time,  to  buy  the  stores  of  peltry 
which  he  had  collected,  and  leave  him  the  whisky  of 
which  he  was  so  fond,  but  the  rest  of  his  time  was  spent 
in  patriarchal  isolation  and  the  society  of  his  Indian 
wives  and  their  half-breed  offspring.  So  far  as  we  know, 
scarcely  a  civilized  habitation  stood  nearer  than  Green 
Bay  on  the  north,  the  Vermilion  branch  of  the  Wabash 
on  the  south  and  the  Mississippi  on  the  west ;  a  tract  of 
nearly  fifty  thousand  square  miles. 

Pointe  de  Saible's  occupation  ended  about  with  the 
century,  when  he  sold  the  cabin  to  one  L,e  Mai.  Before 
this  time,  however,  other  settlements  had  been  begun 
nearer  than  those  above  mentioned  ;  and  even  in  the 
very  neighborhood  there  were  a  few  neighbors.  One 
Guarie  had  settled  on  the  west  side  of  the  North  Branch; 
and  Gurdon  Hubbard  (who  came  here  in  1818)  says  that 
that  stream  was  still  called  "  River  Guarie  "  and  that  he 
himself  saw  the  remains  of  corn-hills  on  what  must  have 
been  Guarie 's  farm.  (The  South  Branch  was  called 
"  Portage  River  "  because  it  led  to  the  Mud  Lake  con- 
nection with  the  Des  Plaines  and  so  omvard  to  the  Mis- 
sissippi). Pointe  de  Saible,  Le  Mai  and  Guarie  have 
died  and  left  no  sign,  but  there  was  another  pioneer  of 
pioneers  in  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  who 
was  more  lucky.  He  was  Antoine  Ouillemette,  a 
Frenchman  who  took  to  wife  a  Pottowatomie  squaw  and 
thus  obtained  a  grant  of  land  on  part  of  which  the  pretty 
suburb  of  Willmette  now  stands.  He  did  not  die  till 
1829,  six  years  before  the  final  departure  of  the  Potto- 
watomies  for  the  further  West. 

The  far-seeing  plans  which  inspired  our  forefathers  in 
making  the  treaty  of  Greenville  took  shape  in  1804, 
when  General  Henry  Dearborn,  Secretary  of  War  under 
President  Jefferson,  ordered  the   building  of  a  fort'*  and 

♦See  Appendix  B. 


58 


THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2, 


a  company  of  soldiers  arrived  to  build  it,  having  marched 
overland  from  Detroit  under  Lieutenant  (afterward  Col- 
onel) James  S.  Swearingen.  Their  Captain,  John 
Whistler,    had   led  an    eventful   life.       Hurlbut    in  his 


WILLIAM    WHISTLER. 

delightful  "Chicago  Antiquities"  says  he  was  "an 
officer  in  the  army  of  the  Revolution,"  and  adds:  "We 
regret  that  we  have  so  few  facts  concerning  his  history; 
nor  have  we  a  portrait  or  signature  of  the  patriot."  In 
fact  he  did  serve  during  the  Revolutionary  war,  but  it 
was  on  the  British  side  in  the  army  of  General  Burgoyne, 
being  taken  prisoner  with  the  rest,  and  paroled  ;  joining 
the  American  army  later  in  life.*     With  Captain  John 

*See  Appendix  C, 


THE    DARK    BEFORE   THE   DAWN.  59 

Whistler  came  his   son,  Lieutenant  William   Whistler, 
the  latter  accompanied  by  his  young  wife  (of  her  and  her 


MRS.   WILLIAM   WHISTLER. 

From  a  photograph  taken  during  her  visit  to  Chicago  in  1875. 

daughter  we  shall  hear  more  hereafter),  all  of  whom 
came  around  the  lakes  on  the  schooner  Tracy.  The 
passengers  left  the  Tracy  on  arriving  at  St.  Joseph's, 
Michigan,    and    came   across  the   lake   by  a  row-boat. 


GO  THE)   CHICAGO    MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

When  the  schooner  arrived  she  anchored  outside  and  her 
freight  was  discharged  by  bateaux,  as  the  river  (which 
made  a  sharp  turn  southward  just  below  where  Rush 
Street  Bridge  now  stands  and  debouched  over  a  shallow 
bar  at  about  the  present  foot  of  Madison  Street)  was  not 
navigable  for  lake  vessels  at  that  time,  or  for  thirty-one 
years  afterward.  Mrs.  William  Whistler  said  that  some 
two  thousand  Indians  visited  the  locality,  during  the 
schooner's  stay, to  see  the  "  big  canoe  with  wings." 

We  further  learn  from  Mrs.  Whistler  that  there  were 
then  in  the  place  but  four  rude  huts  or  trader's  cabins, 
occupied  by  white  men,  Canadian  French  with  Indian 
wives.     She  adds: 

"  Captain  Whistler,  upon  his  arrival,  at  once  set  about 
erecting  a  stockade  and  shelter  for  his  protection,  fol- 
lowed by  getting  out  the  sticks  for  the  heavier  work.  It 
is  worth  mentioning  here  that  there  was  not  at  that  time, 
within  hundreds  of  miles,  a  team  of  horses  or  oxen,  and 
as  a  consequence,  the  soldiers  had  to  don  the  harness 
and,  with  the  aid  of  ropes,  drag  home  the  needed 
timbers." 

This  would  indicate  that  the  soldiers  had  made  their 
long  march  from  Detroit  (two  hundred  and  eighty  miles) 
without  wagons  or  pack  animals  to  carry  tents  and 
rations;  or,  what  is  more  probable,  that  the  transportation 
had  been  hired,  and  the  outfit  had  returned  to  Detroit. 

Next  steps  upon  the  scene  the  true  pioneer  of  the 
Chicago  of  to-day;  John  Kinzie.*  This  first  of  citizens 
had  learned  of  the  proposed  establishment  of  the  military 
post,  Fort  Dearborn,  and,  foreseeing  with  his  usual  bold- 
ness and  sagacity  the  advantages  to  spring  from  it,  had 
come  over  from  his  residence  on  the  St.  Joseph's  river, 
and  bought  from  Le  Mai   the  old  Pointe  de  Saible  log- 


*See  Appendix  D. 


THK  DARK  BEFORE  THE  DAWN.         ()1 

cabin.  Shortly  after  the  establishment  of  the  fort  he 
brought  his  family  to  the  place  wherein  the  name  of 
Kinzie  has  been  always  most  distinguished.  The  family 
consisted  of  his  wife,  Eleanor  (Lytle),  widow  of  a  British 
officer  named  McKillip,  her  young  daughter  Margaret, 
who  afterward  became  Mrs.  Lieutenant  Helm,  and  an 
infant  son,  John  Harris  Kinzie.  They  occupied  the  old 
North  Side  log-house  up  to  1827 — about  twenty-five 
years — (except  from  181 2  to  18 16,  the  years  of  desola- 
tion) and  it  stood  for  more  than  ten  years  longer;  a  land- 
mark remembered  by  scores  if  not  hundreds  of  the 
Chicagoans  of  this  time  (1893). 

For  much  of  our  scanty  knowledge  concerning  the 
years  following  the  building  of  the  fort  we  are  indebted 
to  Mrs.  Julia  (Ferson)  Whistler,  wife  of  William  and 
therefore  daughter  in-law  of  John,  the  old  Burgoyne 
British  regular.* 

From  1804  to  181 1,  the  characteristic  traits  of  this  far 
away  corner  of  the  earth  were  its  isolation ;  the  garrison 
within  the  stockade  and  the  ever  present  hovering  clouds 
of  savages  outside,  half  seen,  half  trusted,  half  feared; 
its  long  summers,  (sometimes  hot  and  sometimes  hotter); 
and  its  long  winters,  (sometimes  cold  and  sometimes 
colder);  its  plentitude  of  the  mere  necessaries  of  life, 
meat  and  drink,  shelter  and  fuel,  with  utter  destitution 
of  all  luxuries;  its  leisurely  industry  and  humble  pros- 
perity; Kinzie,  the  kindly  link  between  the  red  man  and 
the  white,  vying  with  the  regular  government  agent  in 
the  purchase  of  pelts  and  the  sale  of  rude  Indian  goods. 
In  1805  Charles  Jouett  was  the  United  States  Indian 
Agent  here.  He  was  a  Virginian,  son  of  one  of  the 
survivors  of  Braddock's  defeat.  How  much  of  his  time 
was  spent   here    and   how    much  elsewhere  we  do  not 

*See  Appendix  C 


(V2 


THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 


know.  In  Mrs.  John  H.  Kinzie's  charming  book  '  'Wau- 
Bun"  he  is  not  even  mentioned,  which  circumstance 
suggests  that  his  relations  with  old  John  Kinzie  were 
not  cordial;  a  state  of  things  to  be  expected,  consid- 
ering their  relative  positions.  He  was  an  educated 
man  and  must  have  enjoyed  the  friendship  of  Jefferson, 
Madison  and  Monroe,  judging  by   his  appointment  as 

Government  Agent, 
first  at  Detroit,  later 
at  Chicago  (1804), 
which  latter  post  he 
resigned  in  181 1,  only 
to  be  reappointed  in 
1817. 

It  is  probable  that 
the    United    States 
agent  was  at  a  disad- 
vantage   in     dealing 
with  the  Indians,  as 
he  would  have  to  obey 
the  law  forbidding  the 
supplying  them    with 
spirits;  which  law  the 
other  traders  ignored. 
In  Hurlbut's  "Antiquities"    a   bit   of  "local  color" 
gives  with  much  vividness  the  condition  of  the  prairie 
in  those  days. 

"In  the  holidays  of  1808-9  Mr.  Jouett  (then  a  wid- 
ower) married  Susan  Randolph  Allen  of  Kentucky,  and 
they  made  their  wedding  journey  on  horseback  in  Jan- 
uary, through  the  jungles,  over  the  snow  drifts,  on  the 
ice  and  across  the  prairies,  in  the  face  of  driving  storms 
and  the  frozen  breath  of  the  winds  of  the  north.  They 
had,  on  their  journey,  a  negro  servant  named  Joe  Battles 
and  an  Indian  guide  whose  name  was  Robinson;  possibly 


:harles  jouett. 


THE    DARK   BEFORE   THE   DAWN. 


63 


the  late  chief  Alexander  Robinson.  A  team  and  wagon 
followed,  conveying  their  baggage,  and  they  marked  their 
route  for  the  benefit  of  any  future  travelers." 

The  government  had  tried  to  befriend  the  Indian  in 
every  way.  It  did  not  forbid  private  traders  from  deal- 
ing with  him  ;  but  it  appointed  agents  whose  duty  it  was 
to  sell  him  goods  at  prices  barely  sufficient  to  cover  cost 
and  expenses.  At  the  same  time  it  forbade,  under 
penalty,  the  supplying  him  with  liquor  in  any  quantity, 
upon  any  pretext.  Unhappily  the  last-named  kindly 
effort  thwarted  the  first.  The  miserable  savage  loved 
the  venal  white  who  would  furnish  him  with  the  poison. 
For  it  he  would  give  not  only  his  furs,  but  his  food  and 
shelter,  his  wives  and  children,  his  body  and  his  ever- 
lasting soul.  As  the  grand  old  Baptist  missionary  Isaac 
McCoy  says,  regarding  the  treaty  of  1821,  at  which  he 
was  present: 

"At  the  treaty  Topenebe,  the  principal  chief  of  the 
Pottowatomies,  a  man  nearly  eighty  years  of  age  [a  long 
and  constant  friend  of  the  Kiuzies],  irritated  by  the 
continued  refusal  on  the  part  of  the  commissioners  to 
gratify  his  importunities  for  whisky,  exclaimed  in  the 
presence  of  his  tribe:  'We  care  not  for  the  land,  the 
money  or  the  goods.  It  is  whisky  we  wrant.  Give  us 
the  whisky.'  After  the  business  of  the  treaty  was  con- 
cluded and  before  the  Indians  left  the  treaty  grounds, 
seven  barrels  of  whisky  were  given  them,  and  within 
twenty-four  hours  afterw7ard  ten  shocking  murders  were 
committed  amongst  them." 

To  quote  from  Munsell's  History  of  Chicago: 

Few  and  meagre  are  the  records  of  occurrences  on  the  banks 
of  the  Chicago  during  these  quiet  years.  The  stagnation  in  this 
remote  corner  of  creation  was  in  sharp  contrast  with  the  doings  in 
the  great  world,  for  these  were  the  momentous  Napoleonic  years. 
Austerlitz,  Jena,  Eylau,  Friedland,  Wagram,  were  fought  between 
1805  and  1809,  and  one   wonders  whether  even  the  echoes  of  the 


64 


THK   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 


sound  of  those  fights  reached  little  Fort  Dearborn.  Yet  the 
tremendous  doings  were  not  without  their  influence  ;  for  it  was 
Napoleon's  "European  System"  and  England's  struggle  against 
it  that  precipitated  our  war  of  1812  ;  and  one  trivial  incident  in 
that  war  was  the  ruin  of  our  little  outpost. 

The  incidents  of  daily  life  went  on  in  the  lonely  settle- 
ment, as  elsewhere. 

There  was  the  occasional  birth  of  a  baby  in  the  Kinzie 
house,  the  fort  or  somewhere  about,  as  there  were  several 
women  here,  soldiers'  wives,  etc.  Those  born  in  the 
Kinzie  mansion  and  the  officers'  families  we  know  about. 
But  these  were  not  all.  There  were  at  least  a  dozen 
little  ones  who  first  saw  the  light  in  this  locality,  whose 
play-ground  was  the  parade  and  the  river  bank,  whose 
merry  voices  must  have  added  a  human  sweetness  to 
this  savage  place ;  whose  entire  identity,  even  to  their 
names,  is  lost.  The  one  thing  we  know  about  them  is 
how  they  died,  and  that  has  been  told  in  Part  I. 


CHAPTER    II. 


BUILDING   OF   THE    FIRST    FORT   DEARBORN, 


lELAYING  our  narrative 
for  a  moment,  we  here 
bring  upon  the  scene  an- 
other figure — the  most 
distinguished  and  heroic  of  all  who 
were  to  play  a  part  in  the  terrific 
tragedy  which  formed  its  climax- 
William  Wells.*  This  brave  fel- 
low, born  of  white  parents,  but 
early  stolen  by  Indians,  and  only 
restored  after  arriving  at  manhood, 
was  a  friend  and  agent  of  General 
Harrison,  who  was  at  that  time  Gov- 
ernor of  the  Indian  Territory.  Cap- 
tain Wells  had  come  to  Chicago  in 
1803  on  official  duty,  as  appears  by 
a  license  (which  the  writer  has  had 
the  privilege  of  inspecting)  issued 
to  Jean  B.  La  Geuness,  to  trade 
with  the  Indians.  This  paper  is  still  in  existence,  in  the 
possession  of  Dr.  H.  B.  Tanner  ofKaukaunee,  Wis., hav- 
ing come  to  him  from  among  the  papers  of  Judge  John 
Lawe  of  Green  Bay,  who  was  for  many  years  agent  of 
the  American  (John  Jacob  Astor's)  Fur  Company.  The 
license  bears  the  name  of  "William  Henry  Harrison, 
Governor  of  the  Indian  Territory  and  Superintendent  of 
Indian  Affairs,"  and  is   signed   "by   order  of  the  Gov- 


A  "red-coat"  of  1S12. 


''See  Appendix  E. 


05 


66  THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OE    1812. 

ernor.  William  Wells,  Agent  at  Indian  Affairs,  Chicago, 
August  the  30th,   1803." 

This  license  must  have  been  signed  in  the  old  De  Saible 
house.  No  fort  was  here  yet,  nor  any  government  office 
or  officer,  so  far  as  we  know.  Indeed,  this  page  records, 
for  the  first  time  in  history,  the  fact  that  William  Wells 
was  in  Chicago  before  1812.  Eight  years  later  his  niece 
was  to  appear  on  the  scene,  arriving  as  the  bride  of 
Captain  Heald,  then  commanding  Fort  Dearborn. 

But  to  return  to  Captain  Whistler  and  the  embryo  fort. 

A  glimpse  of  early  garrison-life  appears  in  the  personal 
narrative  of  Captain  Thomas  C.  Anderson,  published  in 
Volume  IX  of  the  Wisconsin  Historical  Collection: 

During  my  second  year  [1804-5]  at  Min-na-wack,  or  Mill- 
wack-ie  [Milwaukee]  Captain  Whistler,  with  his  company  of  Amer- 
ican soldiers,  came  to  take  possession  of  Chicago.  At  this  time 
there  were  no  buildings  here  except  a  few  dilapidated  log  huts  cov- 
ered with  bark.  Captain  Whistler  had  selected  one  of  these  as  a 
temporary,  though  miserable,  residence  for  his  family,  his  officers 
and  men  being  under  canvas.  On  being  informed  of  his  arrival  I 
felt  it  my  duty  to  pay  my  respects  to  the  authority  so  much  required 
by  the  country.  On  the  morrow  I  mounted  Kee-ge-kaw,  or  Swift- 
goer,  and  the  next  day  I  was  invited  to  dine  with  the  Captain.  On 
going  to  the  house,  the  outer  door  opening  into  the  dining-room,  I 
found  the  table  spread,  the  family  and  guests  seated,  consisting  of 
several  ladies,  all  as  jolly  as  kittens. 

The  fort  consisted  of  a  stockade  large  enough  to  con- 
tain a  parade-ground  and  all  the  fort  buildings,  officers, 
quarters,  barracks,  offices,  guard-house,  magazine,  etc., 
and  also  two  block-houses,  each  built  so  that  the  second 
story  overhung  the  lower,  thus  giving  a  vertical  fire  for 
musketry  to  guard  against  an  enemy's  setting  fire  to  the 
house.  One  of  these  was  at  the  southeast  corner  and  the 
other  at  the  northwest.  There  were  entrances  on  the 
south  side  (Michigan  Avenue),  and  on  the  north  or  water 
side,  where  a  sunken  road  led  down  to  the   river.     Mr, 


BUILDING    OF   THE    FIRST    FORT   DEARBORN 


67 


Blanchard,  in  his  "Chicago  and  the  Northwest,"  says 
that  the  armament  consisted  of  the  musket  and  bayonet, 
and  three  pieces  of  light  artillery  —  probably  the  old  six- 
pounder,  which  threw  a  round  ball  about  double  the  size 
of  a  child's  fist. 

Beside  the  fort,  the  government  put  up  an  '  'Agency 
House,"  which  stood  on  the  river  bank  just  wTest  of  the 
sunken  road  that  led  from  the  fort  to  the  water.  Mrs. 
Kinzie  describes  this  building  as  an   old-fashioned  log- 


FORT  DEARBORN,  1803-4 


rgus'  Series,  No.  16) 


house  with  a  hall  running  through  the  middle,  and  one 
large  room  on  each  side.  Piazzas  extended  the  whole 
length  of  the  building,  in  front  and  rear.  It  played  a  part 
in  the  final  tragedy,  and  was  destroyed  with  the  fort 
on  August  15,  1812. 

Munsell's  "  History  of  Chicago"  gives  the  following 
picture  at  and  after  the  building  of  the  first  fort  : 

When  the  schooner  Tracy  set  sail  and  slowly  vanished  in  the 
northwestern  horizon,  we  may  fancy  that  some  wistful  glances  fol- 
lowed her.  For  those  left  behind  it  was  the  severing  of  all  regular 
ties  with  "  home,"  for  years  or  forever.  An  occasional  courier  from 


68  THE    CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2, 

Detroit  or  Fort  Wayne  brought  news  from  the  outside  world;  a  rare 
canoe  or  bateau  carried  furs  to  Mackinaw  and  brought  back  tea, 
flour,  sugar,  salt,  tobacco,  hardware,  powder  and  lead,  dry  goods, 
shoes,  etc.,  perhaps  a  few  books*  and,  best  of  all,  letters  !  But  be- 
tween-times,  what  had  they  to  make  life  worth  living?  Which  of 
the  compensations  kindNature  always  keeps  in  store,  for  even  the 
most  desolate  of  her  children,  were  allotted  to  them  ? 

They  had  the  lake  for  coolness  and  beauty  in  summer  ;  the  for- 
est for  shelter,  warmth  and  cheer  in  winter  ;  masses  of  flowers  in 
spring,  and  a  few — very  few — fruits  and  nuts  in  autumn,  such  as 
wild  grapes  and  strawberries,  wintergreen-berries,  cranberries, 
whortleberries,  hazel-nuts,  walnuts,  hickory-nuts,  beech-nuts,  etc. 
There  was  no  lack  of  game  to  be  had  for  the  hunting,  or  fish  for 
the  catching.  The  garrison  had  cattle,  therefore  there  was  doubt- 
less fresh  beef,  milk  and  butter.  So  a  "good  provider,"  as  John 
Kinzie  doubtless  was  (we  know  that  he  was  the  soul  of  hospitality) 
would  be  certain  to  keep  his  wife's  larder  always  full  to  over- 
flowing. 

The  garrison  officers'  families  made  company  for  each  other 
and  the  Kinzies  and  Jouetts  ;  the  soldiers  gave  protection  and  a  thou- 
sand other  services  to  all,  and  the  two  lifers  and  two  drummers 
made  music — such  as  it  was.  This  rude  melody  was  not  all  they 
had,  however,  for  John  Kinzie  was  a  fiddler  as  well  as  a  trader  and 
a  silver-smith  ("Shaw-nee-aw-kee,"  or  the  "silver-smith,"  was  his 
Indian  name),  and  in  the  cool  summer  evenings,  sitting  on  his 
porch,  would  send  the  sound  of  his  instrument  far  and  wide,  over 
river  and  plain,  through  the  dewy  silence  of  the  peaceful  landscape. 

They  had  love  and  marriage,  birth  and  death,  buying  and 
selling  and  getting  gain  ;  and,  happily,  had  not  the  gift  of  "second 
sight,"  to  divine  what  lay  before  them  ;  what  kind  of  end  was  to 
come  to  their  exile. 

Mr.  Wentworth's  Fort  Dearborn  speech  (Fergus'  His- 
torical Series  No.  16,  page  87)  quotes  a  letter  he  had  re- 
ceived from  Hon.  Robert  Lincoln,  Secretary  of  War  under 
President  Garfield.  From  it  we  learn  that  no  muster  roll 
of  the  garrison  at  Fort  Dearborn  in  181 1  or  181 2  is  on  file 
at  the  War  Department,  but  that  the  general  returns  of 

*John  H.  Kinzie  used  to  tell  how,  as  a  boy,  he  learned  to  read  from  a  spell- 
ing-book which  was  unexpectedly  found  in  a  chest  of  tea,  and  that  books  were 
associated  with  the  smell  of  tea  in  his  mind  forever  alter. 


BUILDING   OF   THE    FIRST   FORT   DEARBORN.  69 

the  army  show  that  the  fort  was  garrisoned  from  June  4, 
1804,  to  June,  1812,  by  a  company  of  the  First  Regiment 
of  Infantry.  In  these  returns  the  strength  of  the  garri- 
son, officers,  musicians  and  privates,  is  given  as  follows  : 
Under  Captain  John  Whistler,  June  4,  1804,  69;  Dec.  31, 
1806,  66;  Sept.  30,  1809,  77.  Under  Captain  Nathan 
Heald,  Sept.  30,  1810,  67;  Sept.  30,  1811,  51,  and  June 
— ,  1812,  53.* 

The  deficiency  of  records  in  the  archives  of  the  War 
Department  may  perhaps  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that 
the  British,  after  the  so-called  "  battle  "  of  Bladensburgh, 
took  Washington  and  burned  all  the  government  build- 
ings. 

In  181 1  Captain  Nathan  Heald,  then  in  command  of 
Fort  Dearborn,  went  down  to  Kentucky,  where  he  mar- 
ried Rebekah  Wells  daughter  of  Captain  Samuel  Wells 
and  niece  of  William. f  The  newly  married  pair  came  up 
overland  (probably  following  the  trail  marked  by  Mr. 
Jouett),  bringing  the  wedding  treasures  of  the  bride — 
silver,  etc.,  and  her  own  personal  adornments,  which  in- 
teresting relics,  after  vicissitudes  strange  and  terrible,  are 
now  in  possession  of  her  son,  Darius  Heald,  and,  with 
him,  are  depicted  elsewhere  in  these  pages. 

Mrs.  Heald' s  narrative  of  these  events,  as  reported  to 
me  by  her  son,  is  as  follows  : 

In  the  summer  of  181 1,  Captain  Heald,  then  in  command  of 
Fort  Dearborn,  at  Chicago,  got  leave  of  absence  to  go  down  to  Lou- 
isville, to  get  married.  He  went  on  horseback,  alone,  traveling  by 
compass. 

They  were  married,  and  after  the  wedding  started  north  on 
horseback  for  Fort  Dearborn.  There  were  four  horses — two  for  the 
bride  and  groom,  one  for  the  packs  and  blankets,  and  one  for  a  little 

*See  Appendix  B  for  a  muster-roll  dated  Dec  31,  1810  (the  latest  entry  which 
gives  names),  wherein  are  shown  several  who  appear  later  as  victims  of  the 
massacre. 

fSee  Appendix  E  for  additional  details  regarding  the  romantic  history  of 
the  Wells  and  Heald  families. 


70  THE   CHICAGO    MASSACRE    OF    l8l2. 

negro  slave-girl  named  Cicely.  This  girl  had  begged  so  hard  to  be 
brought  along  that  they  could  not  refuse  her  request,  although  it 
was,  as  the  Captain  said,  adding  one  more  to  the  difficulties  of  mak- 
ing the  long,  lonesome,  toilsome  trip  on  horseback.  They  traveled 
by  compass,  as  before.  The  horses  were  good  ones,  and  not  Indian 
ponies.  Those  that  the  Captain  and  his  bride  rode  were  thorough- 
breds, as  was  the  one  ridden  by  the  slave-girl,  and  they  had  also  a 
good  one  to  carry  the  pack,  so  that  they  made  the  trip  in  about  a 
week's  time;  starting  Thursday,  and  reaching  Fort  Dearborn  on  the 
following  Wednesday  night,  making  about  fifty  miles  a  day.  Noth- 
ing of  importance  occurred  on  the  bridal  trip;  they  arrived  safely, 
and  the  garrison  turned  out  to  receive  them  with  all  the  honors  of 
war,  the  bride  being  quite  an  addition  to  the  little  company. 

Rebekah  was  much  pleased  with  her  reception,  and  found 
everything  bright  and  cheerful.  She  liked  the  wild  place,  the  wild 
lake  and  the  wild  Indians;  everything  suited  her  ways  and  dispo- 
sition, "  being  on  the  wild  order  herself,"  she  said;  and  all  went  on 
very  pleasantly.  Among  other  gayeties  there  was  skating  in  winter 
up  and  down  the  frozen  river,  and  Ensign  Ronan  was  a  famous 
skater.  Sometimes  he  wrould  take  an  Indian  squaw  by  the  hands, 
she  holding  her  feet  still,  and  swing  her  back  and  forth  from  side 
to  side  of  the  little  stream,  until  he  came  to  a  place  where  there  was 
a  deep  snowdrift  on  the  bank,  when  he  would  (accidentally,  of 
course)  loose  his  grip  on  her  hands,  and  she  would  fly  off  into  the 
snowdrift  and  be  buried  clear  out  of  sight. 

In  1 812-  the  peaceful  quiet  was  rudely  startled,  then 
assaulted,  then  destroyed.  The  first  breach  of  the  peace 
was  the  killing  by  Mr.  Kinzie  (in  self-defense)  of  one  John 
Lalime,  Indian  interpreter  at  Fort  Dearborn.*  This  was 
early  in  181 2.  It  had,  however,  nothing  to  do  with  the 
friendliness  or  enmity  of  the  redmen. 

The  second  event  was  of  a  different  kind.  A  man 
named  Lee,f  who  lived  on  the  lake-shore,  near  the  fort, 
had  enclosed  and  was  farming  a  piece  of  land  on  the 
northwest  side  of  the  South  Branch,  within  the  present 
"Lumber  District,"  about  half  way  between  Halsted 
Street  and  Ashland  avenue.     It  was  first  known  as  ' '  Lee's 

*See  Appendix  F. 

fThis  name  I  find  sometimes  spelled  "  L,ee,"  and  sometimes  "  See." 


BUILDING   OF  THE   FIRST   FORT   DEARBORN. 


Place,"  afterwards  as  "  Hardscrabble."  It  was  occupied 
by  one  Liberty  White,  with  two  other  men  and  a  boy, 
the  son  of  Mr.  Lee. 

This  spot  was  not  far  from  the  place  where  Pere  Mar- 
quette pass- 
ed the  winter 


of  1674-75  ; 
perhaps  the 
very  same 
ground. (See 
M  tins  ell's 
History  of 
Chicago  for  a 
copy  of  the 
good  Fath- 
er's journal, 
with  parallel 
translation. ) 
Mrs.  John 
Kinzie,  first 
in  a  pamph- 
let dated  in 
1836,  and 
published  in 
1844,  and 
later  in  Wau- 
Bun,  gives 
an  extremely 
pictures  qu  e 
ace  o  u  11 1  of 
the  alarm, 
evidently  ta- 
ken   down 

from  the  lips  of  those  who  had  been  present;  namely 
her  husband  (then  a  boy),  his  mother,  Mrs.  John  Kinzie, 
and  his  half-sister,  Mrs.  Helm  ■ 


CABIN  IN  THE  WOODS. 


72  THE   CHICAGO  MASSACRE    OF*    l8l2. 

It  was  the  evening  of  the  7th  of  April,  1812.  The  children  of 
Mrs.  Kinzie  were  dancing  before  the  fire  to  the  music  or  their  fath- 
er's violin.  The  tea-table  was  spread,  and  they  were  awaiting  the 
return  of  their  mother,  who  was  gone  to  visit  a  sick  neighbor. 
[Mrs.  John  Burns,  living  at  about  where  is  now  the  crossing  of  Kin- 
zie and  State  Streets,  had  just  been  delivered  of  a  child.]  Suddenly 
their  sports  were  interrupted  ;  the  door  was  thrown  open  and  Mrs. 
Kinzie  rushed  in  pale  with  terror,  and  scarcely  able  to  articulate. 

"The  Indians  !     The  Indians  !" 

"The  Indians!     What?     Where?" 

"Up  at  Lee's  place,  killing  and  scalping!" 

With  difficulty  Mrs.  Kinzie  composed  herself  sufficiently  to  give 
the  information  that  while  she  was  up  at  Burns's  a  man  and  a  boy 
were  seen  running  down  with  all  speed  to  the  opposite  side  of  the 
river  ;  that  they  called  across  to  give  notice  to  Burns's  family  to 
save  themselves,  for  the  Indians  were  at  Lee's  place,  from  which 
they  had  just  made  their  escape.  Having  given  this  terrifying  news 
they  made  all  speed  for  the  fort,  which  was  on  the  same  side  of  the 
river  that  they  were.  All  was  now7  consternation  and  dismay.  The 
family  were  hurried  into  two  old  pirogues  [dug-out  tree-trunks]  that 
were  moored  near  the  house,  and  paddled  with  all  possible  haste 
across  the  river  to  take  refuge  in  the  fort. 

Mrs.  Kinzie  goes  on  to  give  the  fullest  account  we  have 
of  this  initial  murder,  fitting  prelude  to  the  bloody  drama 
to  follow  a  few  months  later.  Here  is  a  condensation  of 
her  narrative  : 

In  the  afternoon  a  party  01  ten  or  twelve  Indians, 
dressed  and  painted,  arrived  at  the  Lee  house,  and  accord- 
ing to  their  custom,  entered  and  seated  themselves  with- 
out ceremony.  Something  in  their  appearance  and  man- 
ner excited  the  suspicions  of  one  of  the  family,  a  French- 
man [Debou],  who  remarked  :  "I  don't  like  the  looks 
of  those  Indians  ;  they  are  not  Potto watomies."  Another 
of  the  family,  a  discharged  soldier,  said  to  a  boy  (a  son 
of  Lee):  "  If  that  is  the  case,  we  had  better  get  away  if 
we  can.  Say  nothing,  but  do  as  you  see  me  do."  As  the 
afternoon  was  far  advanced,  the  soldier  walked  leisurely 
toward  the  two  canoes  tied  near  the  bank.     They  asked 


BUILDING   OF  THF   FIRST   FORT    DFARBORN 


74  THE    CHICAGO   MASSACRE    OF    l8l2. 

where  he  was  going.  He  pointed  to  the  cattle  which 
were  standing  among  the  hay-stacks  on  the  opposite 
bank,  and  made  signs  that  they  must  go  and  fodder  them 
and  then  return  and  get  their  supper. 

He  got  into  one  canoe  and  the  boy  into  the  other. 
When  they  gained  the  opposite  side  they  pulled  some  hay 
for  the  cattle,  and  when  they  had  gradually  made  a  cir- 
cuit so  that  their  movements  were  concealed  by  the  hay- 
stacks, they  took  to  the  woods  and  made  for  the  fort. 
They  had  run  a  quarter  of  a  mile  when  they  heard  the 
discharge  of  two  guns  successively.  They  stopped  not 
nor  stayed  until  they  arrived  opposite  Burns' s  place 
(North  State  and  Kinzie  streets),  where  they  called  across 
to  warn  the  Burns  family  of  their  danger,  and  then  has- 
tened to  the  fort. 

A  party  of  soldiers  had  that  afternoon  obtained  leave  to 
go  up  the  river  to  fish.  The  commanding  officer  ordered 
a  cannon  to  be  fired  to  warn  them  of  their  danger.  Hear- 
ing the  signal  they  took  the  hint,  put  out  their  torches 
and  dropped  down  the  river  as  silently  as  possible.  It 
will  be  remembered  that  the  battle  of  Tippecanoe,  the  pre- 
ceding November,  had  rendered  every  man  vigilant,  and 
the  slightest  alarm  was  an  admonition  to  "  beware  of  In- 
dians." 

When  the  fishing-party  reached  Lee's  place,  ll  was 
proposed  to  stop  and  warn  the  inmates.  All  was  still  as 
death  around  the  house.  They  groped  their  w7ay  along, 
and  as  the  corporal  jumped  over  the  small  enclosure  he 
placed  his  hand  on  the  dead  body  of  a  man.  By  the  sense 
of  touch  he  soon  ascertained  that  the  head  was  without  a. 
scalp  and  was  otherwise  mutilated.  The  faithful  dog  of 
the  murdered  man  stood  guarding  the  remains  of  his 
master. 

Captain  Heald,  writing  from  the  fort,  gives  a  shorter 
statement,  adding  some  further  particulars  : 


BUILDING    OP   THE    FIRST    FORT    DEARBORN 


Chicago,  April  15,  1812. — The  Indians  have  commenced  hos- 
tilities in  this  quarter.  On  the  sixth  instant,  a  little  before  sunset, 
a  party  of  eleven  Indians,  supposed  to  be  Wiunebagoes,  came  to 
Messrs.  Russell  and  See's  cabin,  in 
a  field  on  the  Portage  branch  of  the 
Chicago  River,  about  three  miles 
from  the  garrison,  where  they  mur- 
dered two  men  ;  one  by  the  name  of 
Liberty  White,  an  American,  and  the 
other  a  Canadian  Frenchman  whose 
name  I  do  not  know.  [Debou.]  White 
received  two  balls  through  his  body, 
nine  stabs  with  a  knife  in  his  breast, 
and  one  in  his  hip,  his  throat  was  cut 
from  ear  to  ear,  his  nose  and  lips  were 
taken  off  in  one  piece,  and  his  head 
was  skinned  almost  as  far  round  as  they 
could  find  any  hair.  The  Frenchman 
was  only  shot  through  the  neck  and 
scalped.  Since  the  murder  of  these  two 
men,  one  or  two  other  parties  of  In- 
dians have  been  lurking  about  us,  but 
we  have  been  so  much  on  ourguard  they 
have  not  been  able  to  get  any  scalps. 


HUMAN   SCALP. 


Among  all  the  tribes  of  savages  met  by  various  immi- 
grations of  Europeans,  a  thousand  differences  of  arms, 
implements,  manners,  habits  and  customs  were  observed. 
Some  were  more  barbarous,  others  less;  but  there  was  one 
trophy,  one  weapon,  one  trait,  invariable  and  universal — 
the  bleeding  scalp,  the  sharp  scalping-knife,  the  rage  for 
scalping.  This  proves  much.  It  shows  that  killing  was 
not  a  mere  means  to  an  end,  but  the  end  aimed  at.  It 
shows  that  sheer,  unadulterated,  unmitigated  murder 
was  the  ideal  grace  of  manhood.  The  brain-pan  of  man, 
woman  or  child  yielded  its  covering,  torn  away  warm 
and  quivering,  and  the  possessor  was  sure  of  the  honor 
and  favor  of  his  fellows,  men,  women  and  children.  No 
woman  shed  a  tear  over  the  locks  of  a  sister  woman  ;  no 
child  over  the  curls  of  a  baby. 


76 


THE    CHICAGO    MASSACRE   OF    i! 


Savagery  the  world  has  ever  known,  and  isolated  in- 
stances of  wholesale  destruction  of  non-combatants  in  the 
drunkenness  of  victory  ;  but  there  is  no  record  of  a  whole 
race,  consisting  of  many  tribes,  spread  over  many  lands, 
enduring  for  many  generations,  where  such  diabolism  was 
the  general  ethnic  trait. 


CHAPTER  III. 


ENGLISH   AND   INDIAN   SAVAGES. 


HE  WINNEBAGOES,  we  ob- 
serve, are  charged  by  Captain 
Heald  with  this  outbreak  of 
lawlessness. 

The  Pottowatomies  always 
averred  that  they  had  nothing 
to  do  with  the  great  massacre, 
and  this  may  be  true  of  the 
tribe  as  a  whole,  but  it  is  well  known 
that  many  of  its  members,  as  well 
as  the  Winnebagoes,  had  been  en- 
gaged with  the  Ottawas  and  Shaw- 
nees  at  the  battle  of  Tippecanoe, 
less  than  a  year  before.  The  En- 
glish, ever  since  the  Revolution, 
had  been  seeking  their  friendship 
— and  our  injury — by  giving  them 
yearly  presents  at  Maiden  (in  Can- 
ada, near  Detroit),  and  they  placed  much  foolish  reliance 
on  the  redmen's  help  in  prosecuting  the  war  of  1812. 
Foolish,  because  the  unspeakable  savage  was  only  formid- 
able in  sneaking  hostilities  against  women  and  children, 
and  against  men  unwarned  and  overmatched  ;  not  in  a 
fair  .fight  on  equal  terms.  In  all  that  contest  they  were 
simply  murderously  hostile.  Wau-Bun  gives  an  incident 
which  displays  their  animus.  In  the  spring  of  1S12  two 
Indians  of  the  Calamic  (Calumet)  band  came  to  the  fort 
to  visit  Captain  Heald.  One  of  them,  Nau-non-gee,  see- 
ing Mrs.  Heald  and  Mrs.  Helm  playing  battledoor  on  the 
parade-ground,   said  to   the   interpreter  (probably  John 


INDIAN    WARRIOR. 


78  The  Chicago  massacrk  op  1812. 

Kinzie):  "  The  white  chief's  wives  are  amusing  them- 
selves very  much ;  it  will  not  be  long  before  they  will  be 
hoeing  in  our  cornfields." 

The  service  they  rendered  England  is  such  as  England 
should  blush  to  receive.  It  was  the  service  of  inspiring 
terror  in  the  hearts  of  the  helpless.  Two  days  after  the 
massacre  at  Chicago,  the  unfortunate  and  execrated  Gen- 
eral Hull  surrendered  Detroit  to  the  British  and  Indians. 
Why  did  he  do  so  ?  He  had  suffered  no  defeat.  He  could 
have  crossed  the  river  and  fought  them  with  every  pros- 
pect of  victory.  But  could  he  leave  that  town  at  the 
mercy  of  fiends  who  knew  no  mercy  ?  He  could  have 
given  battle  at  Detroit  itself,  but  the  British  General 
(Proctor)  kindly  told  him  that  if  he  should  be  compelled 
to  assault  he  would  not  be  able  to  control  his  Indian 
allies.  Now,  in  case  of  defeat,  Hull's  army  could  take 
care  of  themselves,  either  as  prisoners  or  fugitives  ;  but 
what  might  become  of  a  thousand  helpless,  hapless 
women  and  children,  and  the  wounded  men  he  would 
have  on  his  hands  ?  What  would  have  become  of  them  ? 
Read  further  on  in  this  narrative  and  see  ! 

So,  in  an  evil  hour  for  himself,  General  Hull  took  the 
merciful  course,  and  innocent  blood  was  spared.  The 
fall  of  Detroit  was  directly  due  to  non-military  caution,  a 
mercifulness  that  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  hazard  of 
civilized  war  and  the  fate  of  the  army.  The  unfortunate 
commander,  a  man  of  undoubted  courage,  a  man  who  had 
served  his  country  through  the  Revolution,  was  tried  by 
court-martial  and  condemned  to  death.  The  sentence  was 
not  carried  out  in  form,  but  in  substance  it  was,  for  he 
lived  in  obscurity,  if  not  obloquy,  and  died  with  a  stained 
name  which  is  slowly  recovering  its  proper  place. 


Vain  is  it  for  apologists  to  try  to  shift  on  to  local  sub- 
ordinates the  blame  for  the  shameful  course  of  Lord  Liv 


ENGLISH   AND   INDIAN  SAVAGES-  tV 

erpool's  government.  The  same  king  was  (nominally) 
reigning  who  had  employed  these  same  allies  only  thirty 
years  before.  George  Third  was  on  the  throne  through 
both  wars;  that  of  the  Revolution  and  that  of  1812. 
English  ears — such  as  were  sensitive  to  just  and  bitter 
denunciation — must  still,  in  1812,  have  been  ringing  with 
the  public  outcry  against  the  infamy  of  1775-82.  Even 
England's  own  servants  protested  against  it.  Doubtless 
they  felt,  as  any  gentleman  must  feel,  that  he  who  stays 
at  home  in  personal  safety  and  employs  base  minions  to 
do  his  murdering,  is  more  contemptible  than  are  the 
minions  themselves,  for  they  at  least  take  their  lives  in 
their  hands  when  they  set  out. 

Where  stand  the  guilty  in  this  business  ?  Lower  than 
where  we  should  stand  if  we  had,  during  our  Civil  War, 
incited  the  negroes  to  the  destruction  of  their  masters' 
families,  for  the  negro  cannot  be  as  cruel  as  the  Indian 
could  not  helping  being.  Lower  than  Russia  would  stand 
if,  in  a  war  along  the  Afghan  frontier,  she  should  scheme 
for  a  new  Sepoy  rebellion,  with  its  ravishing  and  maim- 
ing of  well  born  English  women.  Such  women  were 
treated  worse  than  even  Dante's  fancy  could  portray,  and 
yet  not  wrorse  than  were  the  survivors  of  the  Chicago 
Massacre. 

In  the  little  settlement  a  wild  season  of  alarm  followed 
the  double  murder  at  Hardscrabble.  The  surviving  civil- 
ians, consisting  of  a  few  discharged  soldiers  and  some 
families  of  half-breeds,  organized  themselves  for  defense. 
They  took  for  their  stronghold  the  Agency  House  already- 
mentioned  as  standing  on  the  river-bank  just  west  of  the 
fort.  The  house  (as  has  been  said)  was  built  of  logs  and 
had  porches  on  both  its  long  sides.  They  planked  up 
the  porches,  leaving  loopholes  for  firing  through,  and  set 
guards  in  proper  military  fashion.  To  quote  once  more 
from  Munsell. 


80  TH£    CHICAGO   MASSACRE    OP    l8l2. 

As  this  was  outside  of  garrison  duty,  it  must  have  required  a 
volunteer  force,  organized  and  armed;  and  this  seems  to  furnish  a 
clue  hitherto  unmarked  by  any  historian,  to  explain  the  presence 
of  "twelve  militia"  who  were  mentioned  by  Captain  Heald  in  his 
report  as  having  taken  part  in  the  fight  of  August  15th,  and  as 
having  been  every  one  killed.  No  other  mention  of  these  devoted 
twelve  exists  in  any  form  except  the  grim  memorandum  of  death  at 
the  post  of  duty.*  Evidently  they  must  have  been  organized  and 
armed  under  the  auspices  of  the  government  force  at  this  time, 
from  the  discharged  soldiers  and  half-breeds,  and  perhaps  included 
Lee,  Pettell,  Burns,  Russell,  etc.,  all  of  whom  were  probably  en- 
rolled and  expected  pay  from  the  government,  albeit  their  claim 
necessarily  lapsed  with  their  own  death  011  that  blocdy  day. 
In  confirmation  of  this  suggestion  we  have  Mrs.  Kinzie's  remark 
(Wau-Bun,  p.  244)  that  Lee,  his  sou,  and  all  his  household,  except 
his  wife  and  daughter,  had  perished  in  the  affray.  Also  her  men- 
tion of  Mrs.  Burns  and  her  infant  among  the  survivors;  no  word 
being  uttered  about  the  husband  and  father. 

The  Kinzies  did  not  return  to  their  North  Side  house.  Mr. 
Kinzie  had  succeeded  Lalime  as  government  interpreter,  and  doubt- 
less the  garrison  needed  his  services  almost  continually.  There 
were  several  slight  alarms  and  disturbances.  A  night  patrol  fired 
at  a  prowling  red  man,  and  a  hatchet  hurled  in  return  missed  its 
mark  and  struck  a  wagon-wTheel.  A  horse-stealing  raid  upon  the 
garrison  stables,  failing  to  find  the  horses,  was  turned  into  an  at- 
tack on  the  sheep,  which  were  all  stabbed  and  set  loose.  These 
alarms  and  other  things  combined  to  show  that  the  quiet  of  the 
preceding  days  had  come  to  an  end.  The  unspeakable  Indian  had 
been  bribed,  tempted  and  misled  by  the  miserable  Englishman  to 
take  up  again  his  cruelties  ;  his  burning,  scalping,  tomahawking, 
knifing  and  mutilation  of  combatants  and  non-combatants  alike, 
men,  women  and  children. 

War  was  declared  by  the  United  States  against  Eng- 
land on  June  12,  181 2.  Mackinaw  was  taken  by  the  Brit- 
ish on  July  16.  Having  Detroit  to  protect  and  a  force  of 
British  and  Indians  to  oppose,  General  Hull  naturally 
aimed  to  mass  his  forces  and  abandon  all  indefensible 
outlying  posts,  such  as  Fort  Dearborn  evidently  was. 
Therefore,  about  August   1st,    he  sent  by  Winnemeg,   a 

♦See  Mrs.  Kinzie's  narrative  and  Captain  Heald's  letter,  hereinafter  quoted. 


ENGLISH    AND    INDIAN   SAVAGES.  81 

friendly  Indian,  a  dispatch  to  Captain  Heald,  ordering 
him  to  evacuate  the  fort  and  to  proceed  to  Detroit  by 
land  with  his  command,  leaving  it  to  his  discretion  to 
dispose  of  the  public  property  as  he  might  think  proper.* 
Mrs.  Kinzie,  in  Wau-Bun,  says  that  the  messenger 
arrived  on  August  yth,  instead  of  the  9th  which  Captain 
Heald  names  as  the  date  of  his  receipt  of  the  order,  and 
adds  that  the  same  letter  brought  news  of  the  declaration 
of  war  (which  had  taken  place  about  two  months  earlier) 
and  of  the  loss  of  the  post  at  Maekinaw\  She  also  gives 
us  a  new  reading  of  the  dispatch,  quite  different  from  that 
given  by  Captain  Heald.  She  says  the  orders  to  Cap- 
tain Heald  were  "to  vacate  the  fort  if  practicable,  and  in 
that  event  to  distribute  all  the  United  States  property 
contained  in  the  fort  and  in  the  United  States  factory,  or 
agency,  among  the  Indians  in  the  neighborhood."  This 
discrepancy  between  our  two  sources  of  information  be- 
comes important  in  judging  of  the  blame,  if  any,  attrib- 
utable to  Captain  Heald  for  the  disaster  toward  which  all 
were  hastening.  Guided  by  the  ordinary  rules  of  evidence, 
we  must  take  Captain  Heald' s  version  as  the  true  one, 
and  believe  that  the  order  wTas  peremptory,  only  to  be 
disobeyed  if  the  subordinate  officer  felt  sure  that  it  would 
not  have  been  given  if  his  superior  had  been  on  the  spot ; 
and  also  that  the  distribution  of  goods  was,  on  Captain 
Heald's  part,  a  voluntary  concession  intended  to  win  the 
favor  of  the  Indian — the  incurable  savage. 

It  should  here  be  stated  that  there  is  a  broad  diverg- 
ence—one might  say  a  contradiction — between  the  Kin- 
zie account  and  the  Heald  account  of  the  occurrences  of 
that  troubled,  appalling,  disastrous  time.  Mrs.  Kinzie 
says  that  Winnemeg  privately  told  Mr.  Kinzie  that  the 
fort  ought  not  to  be  evacuated,  seeing  that  it  was  well 
supplied  with  provisions   and   ammunition,    and   advised 

*See  Appendix  E. 


82  THE    CHICAGO    MASSACRE    OF    l8l2. 

waiting  for  reinforcements.  Also  that  if  Captain  Heald 
was  to  go  at  all,  he  should  start  at  once,  to  get  out  of  the 
way  of  the  hostiles  by  a  forced  march  while  the  Indians 
were  dividing  the  spoil.  (How  many  "forced  marches" 
would  it  have  taken  to  make  that  lumbering  caravan  safe 
from  pursuit  by  the  red  runners  of  the  wilds?)    She  says: 

The  order  for  evacuating  the  post  was  read  next  morning  upon 
parade.  It  is  difficult  to  understand  why  Captain  Heald,  in  such 
an  emergency,  omitted  the  usual  form  of  calling  a  council  of  war 
with  his  officers.  It  can  only  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  of  a  want 
of  harmonious  feeling  between  himself  and  one  of  his  junior  offi- 
cers— Ensign  Ronan,  a  high-spirited  and  somewhat  overbearing, 
but  brave  and  generous  young  man. 

A  "council  of  war"  between  the  captain  and  his  two 
lieutenants  and  (perhaps)  the  surgeon,  to  debate  an  un- 
conditional order  received  from  the  general  commanding 
the  division,  does  not  strike  the  average  reader  as  an 
"usual  form,"  nor  does  any  disaffection  on  the  part  of  the 
junior  among  the  officers  seem  likely  to  enter  into  the 
question,  one  way  or  the  other.  But  the  suggestion 
throw's  a  side-light  on  the  unhappy  state  of  things  at  Fort 
Dearborn.  It  seems  unquestionable  that  this  young  en- 
sign was  not  in  accord  with  his  captain,  and  that  the 
Kinzies,  especially  the  young  story  teller,  Mrs.  Helm  (who 
was  Mrs.  Kinzie's  authority),  sided  with  the  junior — as 
was  perhaps  natural.     To  quote  from  Munsell: 

It  becomes  necessary  here  to  call  to  mind  the  possible  bias  which 
may  have  existed  in  the  hearts  of  the  narrators  in  handing  down 
the  story  to  Mrs.  Kinzie,  the  writer  of  Wau-Buu,  who  probably 
never  saw  the  principal  actor  in  it,  John  Kinzie,  he  having  died  two 
years  before  her  marriage  with  his  son,  John  H.  Kinzie.  The  lat- 
ter was  only  nine  years  old  at  the  time  of  the  massacre.  His 
mother,  however,  Mrs.  Kinzie,  she  did  know  well,  also  his  aunt, 
Mrs.  Helm  [John's  stepdaughter],  from  whose  lips  the  Wau-Bun 
account  of  the  massacre  was  taken  down  by  her.  It  is  quite  certain 
that  departure  meant  ruin  to  John  Kinzie;  for  of  all  the  property 
he  had  accumulated  in  his  long,  able,  arduous  and  profitable  busi- 


ENGLISH   AND    INDIAN   SAVAGES.  83 

ness  life,  not  a  handful  could  be  carried  away  by  land.  And  the 
event  showed  that  he,  personally,  had  nothing  to  fear  frcm  the 
Indians. 

Here  is  what  Mrs.  Heald  says  about  these  matters: 

It  is  all  false  about  any  quarrel  between  Ronan  and  Captain 
Heald.  The  ensign  thought  the  world  of  the  captain,  and  gave  him 
a  big  book  with  their  two  names  written  it.  Among  the  property 
recovered  after  the  massacre  was  this  book,  which  the  Indians 
thought  was  the  Bible.  They  would  pass  their  hands  across  the 
pages  and  point  significantly  heavenward;  but  in  fact  the  book  was 
a  dictionary  and  is  still  in  possession  of  the  family,  having  been 
bound  in  buckskin  to  preserve  such  part  as  has  not  already  suc- 
cumbed to  the  many  vicissitudes.  Occasionally  Indians  would 
come  and  steal  horses  when  the  men  were  some  distance  away  cut- 
ting hay  for  the  winter's  supplies,  and  they  were  apt  to  try  to  get 
the  scalp  of  any  white  person  against  whom  they  had  any  hard 
feeling. 

Mrs.  Heald  recalls  a  particular  case  where  a  soldier,  a  great 
stammerer,  was  out  on  picket,  and  from  the  block-house  window 
she  saw  an  Indian  try  to  get  between  him  and  the  fort.  To  attract 
the  soldier's  attention  Captain  Heald  had  a  gun  fired,  and  the  man, 
when  he  saw  his  peril,  started  homeward,  the  Indian  at  the  same 
time  starting  to  cut  him  off.  The  soldier  was  the  best  runner,  and 
when  the  Indian  called  out  to  him  some  taunting  expression,  he 
looked  over  his  shoulder  and  tried  to  shout  a  retort,  but  his  stut- 
tering tongue  made  this  take  so  long  that  he  came  near  losing  his 
life,  though  at  last  he  got  in  safely. 

In  writing  the  story  of  the  events  of  that  eventful  time, 
there  being  but  two  sources  of  information — to  some  ex- 
tent divergent,  even  contradictory — one  is  tempted  to 
print  them  in  parallel  columns  and  let  the  reader  take  his 
choice.  Each  has  the  same  degree  of  authenticity,  see- 
ing that  Mrs.  Helm,  an  actor  in  the  tragedy,  told  Mrs. 
Kinzie  the  story,  who  gives  it  to  us;  while  Mrs.  Heald, 
also  an  actor  (and  besides,  a  badly  wounded  sufferer),  told 
it  often  to  her  son,  the  Hon.  Darius  Heald,  who  gives  it  to 
us.  But  as  the  parallel  columns  might  prove  more  con- 
troversial than    interesting,   the  plan  I  have  pursued  is 


84 


THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2, 


the  presenting  of  undisputed  facts,  and,  in  ease  of  con- 
troversy, the  account  which  seems  most  probable,  with 
the  adverse  side  when  necessary. 

NOTE. 

The  Heald  story  is  now  for  the  first  time  made  a  part  of  per- 
manent history.  In  1891,  while  writing  the  "Story  of  Chicago," 
I  learned  that  Darius  Heald,  son  of  Nathan  and  Rebekah  [Wells] 
Heald,  was  still  living;  whereupon  I  got  him  to  come  to  Chicago 
from  his  home  in  Missouri,  bringing  all  the  relics  and  mementoes 
of  his  parents  which  he  could  find.  He  came,  and  sat  for  a  por- 
trait with  the  relics  by  his  side,  and  his  entire  story  was  taken  down 
in  short-hand  from  his  own  lips.  The  little  which  was  available 
is  included  in  my  "Story  of  Chicago,"  and  the  remainder  I  caused 
to  be  published  in  the  Magazine  of  American  History.  (See  Ap- 
pendix E.) 


GEORGE   THIRD. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

A   LONG    FAREWELL. 


HE  departure   was   not   ap- 
proved   by    all,    if  any,    of 
the  subordinate  officers.    It 
was  urged  on  Capt.  Heald 
that  the  command  would  be 
attacked;  that  the  attack  would 
have  been  made  long  before  if 
it  had  not  been  for  the  Indians' 
regard  for  the  Kinzies;  that  the 
helplessness  of  the  women  and 
children  and  the  invalided  and 
superannuated  soldiers  was  sure 
to  make  the   march  slow  and 
perilous,    and   that    the   place 
could  well  be  defended.  Captain 
Heald  pleaded  his  orders,    and 
alleged  that  the  place  was  not 
provisioned  to  stand  a  siege. 

Upon  one  occasion,  as  Captain  Heald  was  conversing 
with  Mr.  Kinzie  on  the  parade,  he  remarked:  "  I  could 
not  remain,  even  if  I  thought  best,  for  I  have  but  a 
small  store  of  provisions."  "  Why,  captain,"  said  a  sol- 
dier who  stood  near  by,  forgetting  all  etiquette,  "you 
have  cattle  enough  to  last  the  troops  six  months."  "  But 
I  have  no  salt  to  preserve  it  with."  "  Then  jerk  it,"  said 
the  man,  "  as  the  Indians  do  their  venison."*  (Wau- 
Bun.) 

*This  is  done  by  cutting  the  meat  in  thin  slices  and  placing  it  on  a  scaffold 
over  a  fire,  which  dries  the  meat  and  smokes  it  at  the  same  time. 

85 


86 


THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 


Captain  Heald,  in  his  letter  of  November  7th,  181 2 
(less  than  three  months  after  the  massacre),  says  of  the 
Indians:  "  The  neighboring  Indians  got  the  information 
as  early  as  I  did,  and  came  in  from  all  quarters  in  order 
to  receive  the  goods  in  the  factory  store,  which  they  un- 
derstood were  to  be  given  them.  The  collection  was 
unusually  large  for  that  place,  but  they  conducted  with 
the  strictest  propriety  until  after  I  left  the  fort."  But 
Wau-Bun  gives  a  different  coloring  to  the  matter,  and 
with  such  circumstantiality  that  there  seems  necessarily 
to  be  some  truth  on  the  other  side.  Mrs.  Kinzie  says 
that  there  was  dissatisfaction  in  the  garrison  amounting 
to  insubordination  (as"  instanced  by  the  soldier's  inter- 
ference in  the  captain's  talk  with  Mr.  Kinzie)  and  increas- 
ing insolence  on  the  part  of  the  Indians.     The  story  runs: 

Entering  the  fort  in  defiance  of  the  sentinels,  they  made  their 
way  without  ceremony 
to  the  officers'  quarters. 
On  one  occasion  an  In- 
dian took  up  a  rifle  and 
fired  it  in  the  parlor  of 
the  commanding  offi- 
cer, as  an  expression  of 
defiance.  Some  were 
of  the  opinion  that  this 
was  intended  among 
the  young  men  as  a  sig- 
nal for  an  attack.  The 
old  chiefs  passed  back- 
wards  and  forwards 
among  the  assembled 
groups  with  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  most 
lively  agitation,  while 
the  squaws  rushed  to 
and  fro  in  great  excite- 
ment and  evidently  prepared  for  some  fearful  scene.     (Wau-Bun.) 

(As  might  be  expected,  the  squaws  often  showed  them- 
selves the  most  bitter,  cruel  and  relentless  partisans.) 


% 


§imM 


■;-'' 


SQUAW. 


A   LONG   FAREWELL.  87 

The  feeling  will  intrude  itself  that  Captain  Heald  was 
too  truthful,  trustful,  brave  and  good  a  man  to  be  a  per- 
fect Indian- fighter.  He  had  none  of  the  savage's  traits 
except  his  courage.  He  was  without  guile,  or  craft,  or 
duplicity,  or  cruelty.  The  soul  of  honor,  he  attributed 
good  faith  to  his  foe.  A  temperate  man,  he  could  not 
conceive  of  the  insanity  of  maniacs  to  whom  the  tran- 
sient delirium  of  drunkenness  is  heaven  on  earth. 

We  must  remember  that  there  is  always  a  hard  feeling 
between  the  military  and  the  civil  authority  in  every  In- 
dian post — East  Indian  or  American  Indian — the  sold;er 
holding  the  sword  and  the  civilian  the  purse,  each  slighHy 
envying  the  other  what  he  possesses,  and  slightly  despis- 
ing him  for  the  lack  of  what  he  is  deprived  of. 

At  any  rate,  Captain  Heald  (by  and  with  the  advice  of 
Mr.  Kinzie)  concluded  not  to  give  the  whisky  and  arms 
to  the  savages.  He  did  what  any  of  us,  common-sence, 
reasonable  men,  ignorant  of  the  worst  traits  of  the  most 
cruel  of  races,  might  have  done.  He  doubtless  reasoned 
thus: 

1 '  I  will  destroy  the  means  of  frenzy  and  the  imple- 
ments of  murder;  then  I  will  win  the  grateful  allegiance 
of  the  Indian  by  magnificent  gifts;  stores  that  will  make 
him  rich  beyond  his  wildest  dream  of  comfort  and  abun- 
dance. Then  I  will  throw  myself  and  these  defenceless 
ones  on  his  protection." 

Alas,  he  did  not  know  with  whom  he  was  dealing! 
What  is  food  and  clothing  to  a  devil  demanding  drink 
and  gunpowder  ?  He  got  only  insolence  in  retnrn  for 
what  he  gave  them,  and  loud  curses  for  what  he  with- 
held. At  the  same  time  Mr.  Kinzie  could  plainly  see 
that  if  his  whisky  was  destroyed  by  the  government  he 
might  be  reimbursed  for  it,  while  if  it  was  left  to  the 
Indians  the  loss  would  be  absolute  and  total. 


88  THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE    OF    l8l2. 

Captain  Heald  held  a  council  with  the  Indians  on  the 
afternoon  of  Wednesday,  August  12,  his  juniors  (accord- 
ing to  Wau-Bun)  declining  his  request  to  accompany 
him  on  the  ground  that  they  had  secret  information  that 
the  officers  were  to  be  massacred  while  in  council;  so  he 
and  Mr.  Kinzie  (interpreter)  went  boldly  forth  alone. 
When  the  two  had  walked  out,  the  others  opened  the 
port-holes  in  the  block-houses  and  trained  the  guns  so  as 
to  command  the  assembly.  No  attack  took  place,  and 
Captain  Heald  then  promised  the  Indians  a  distribution 
of  the  goods — whether  with  or  without  any  express  res- 
ervations we  do  not  know.  The  Indians,  on  their  part, 
promised  to  escort  the  train  in  safety.  (This  would  indi- 
cate that  the  promise  was  made  to  one  tribe,  the  Potto- 
watomies,  and  that  opposition  might  be  looked  for  from 
another,  probably  the  Winnebagoes.) 

After  the  council,  Mr.  Kinzie  had  a  long  talk  with  Cap- 
tain Heald,  whereat  it  was  agreed  that  all  surplus  arms, 
ammunition  and  liquor  should  not  be  distributed,  but 
destroyed.  This  is  Mrs.  Kinzie' s  own  account,  and 
seems  to  set  at  rest  the  charge  of  bad  faith  (in  not  distrib- 
uting all  the  goods)  which  has  been  made  by  Heald  de- 
cryers  and  Indian  apologists. 

Ou  the  thirteenth'  the  goods,  consisting  of  blankets,  broadcloths, 
calicoes,  paints,  etc.,  were  distributed  as  stipulated.  The  same 
evening  the  ammunition  and  liquor  were  carried,  part  into  the  sally- 
port, and  thrown  into  a  well  which  had  been  dug  there;  the  remain- 
der was  transported  as  secretly  as  possible  through  the  northern 
gate,  the  heads  of  the  barrels  knocked  in  and  the  contents  poured 
into  the  river.  The  same  fate  was  shared  by  a  large  quantity  of 
alcohol  belonging  to  Mr.  Kinzie,  which  has"  been  deposited  i?i  a 
warehouse  opposite  the  fort* 

The  Indians  suspected  what  was  going  on,  and  crept,  serpent- 
like, as  near  the  scene  of  action  as  possible,  but  a  vigilant  watch 
was  kept  up  and  no  one  was  suffered  to  approach  but  those  engaged 
in  the  affair.     All  the  muskets  not  necessary  for  the  command  on 

:i:The  italics  are  not  used  in  the  original.  Mrs.  Heald  says  that  there  was 
only  one  barrel  of  spirits  in  the  fort. 


A   LONG   FAREWELL.  89 

the  march  were  broken  up  and  thrown  in  the  well,  together  with 
bags  of  shot,  flints,  gnn-screws  and,  in  short,  every  weapon  of 
offence.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  a  second  council  was 
held  with  the  Indians.  They  expressed  great  indignation  at  the  de- 
struction of  the  ammunition  and  liquor.  Notwithstanding  the  pre- 
cautious taken  to  preserve  secrecy,  the  noise  of  knocking  in  the 
heads  of  the  barrels  had  betrayed  the  operations,  and  so  great  was 
the  quantity  of  liquor  thrown  into  the  river  that  the  taste  of  the 
water  next  morning  was,  as  one  expressed  it,  "strong  grog." 
(Wau-Buu  narrative.) 

William  Wells,  with  the  courage  and  endurance  of  his 
red  foster-parents,  and  the  faithful,  loving  h^art  of  his 
own  race,  heard  in  some  way  (at  Fort  Wayne,  where  he 
was  stationed)  of  the  proposed  evacuation  of  Fort  Dear- 
born and  the  perilous  flight  to  Detroit — nearly  three  hun- 
dred miles  through  the  lonely  "oak  openings"  of  Michi- 
gan. His  friends  were  here — his  girlfriend,  his  own 
brother's  daughter,  Rebekah  Wells  Heald,  was  here.  The 
thought  of  their  danger  summoned  him  like  the  sound  of 
a  trumpet  to  share  it.  He  came  at  the  head  of  a  band  of 
thirty  Miami  Indians,  to  guide,  guard,  help  in  every  way 
the  forlorn  hope.  It  was  too  late  to  change  the  fatal 
plan,  even  if  he  would  have  tried  to  do  so.  He  was  a 
soldier,  and  obedience  to  orders  was  a  part  of  his  training. 
Besides,  he  knew  the  Indians,  and  they  knew  and  re- 
spected him,  and  an  expedition  which  would  be  desperate 
without  his  presence,  might  be  changed  by  his  help  to  a 
reasonable  undertaking.  If  the  whites  had  any  friends 
arncng  the  reds,  he  would  be  at  the  head  of  those  friends 
to  lead  them  against  the  unfriendly. 

How  the  hearts  of  the  troubled  little  settlement  must 
have  bounded  as  they  saw  the  help  approaching  !  Fancy 
the  scene  ! 

On  Friday,  August  14th,  when  the  sun  was  sinking  in 
the  West,  there  came  along  the  lake-shore,  stretched  out 
beside  the  yellow  sand-hills  that  extended  southward 
clear  down  to  the  oak  woods  now  marking  the  suburb  of 


90  THE    CHICAGO    MASSACRE    OF    l8l2. 

Hyde  Park,  the  band  of  mounted  Indians,  headed  by  the 
good  and  brave  soldier  who  knew  the  Indians  as  well  as 
they  knew  each  other.  They  had  tramped  all  the  way 
from  Fort  Wayne,  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  charged 
with  the  kindly,  dangerous  task  of  escorting  the  entire 
Chicago  community  back  along  the  pathless  forest  they 
themselves  had  just  come  through. 

Captain  Heald  unquestionably  felt  greatly  reinvigora- 
ted,  for  this  was  an  endorsement  of  his  plan  as  well  as 
help  toward  carrying  it  out.  There  could  be  no  doubt  at 
headquarters  as  to  his  coming,  for  here  was  an  escorted 
officer  arriving  to  bear  him  company.  There  was  cer- 
tainly a  warm  hand-shaking  between  the  officers  as  they 
came  together,  and — one  would  like  to  have  seen  the 
meeting  between  uncle  and  niece  !  It  was  well  neither 
could  look  forward  twenty-four  hours. 

Even  now  the  die  was  cast,  and  those  behind  the  scenes 
knew  that  all  was  lost.  Black  Partridge,  a  chief  friendly 
to  the  whites,  had  received,  for  services  rendered  at  the 
time  of  the  treaty  of  Greenville,*  a  silver  medal  bearing 
on  one  side  a  portrait  of  Madison,  and  on  the  other 
clasped  hands,  surmounted  by  tomahawk  and  "calumet," 
or  pipe  of  peace,  with  the  words  "Peace  and  Friend- 
ship." Now  he  approached  Captain  Heald  and  deliv- 
ered to  him  the  significant  emblem.  His  words,  ren- 
dered by  an  interpreter,  were  these: 

11  Father,  I  come  to  deliver  to  you  the  medal  I  wear.  It 
was  given  to  me  by  the  Americans,  and  I  have  long  worn 
it  in  token  of  our  mutual  friendship.  But  our  young  men 
are  resolved  to  imbue  their  hands  in  the  blood  of  the 
whites.  I  cannot  restrain  them,  and  I  will  not  wear  a 
token  of  peace  when  I  am  compelled  to  act  as  an  enemy/' 
(Wau-Bun.) 

*The  treaty  wherein  the  six  miles  square,  which  includes  Chicago,  wai  re- 
served to  the  whites. 


92  THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

This  was  equivalent  to  a  declaration  of  hostilities,  and 
a  council  of  war,  with  Captain  Wells  as  the  most  trusted 
adviser,  would  now  have  been  most  excellent.  A  plan  of 
march  should  have  been  formed,  including  plan  of  battle, 
if  battle  should  befall.  Many  advantages  would  be  with 
the  whites.  For  several  days  they  would  have  the  lake 
as  their  water  supply  and  as  a  protection  on  one  side. 
They  had  wagons  to  carry  food,  ammunition  and  the  dis- 
abled, and  to  serve  as  a  cover  against  musketry.  They 
had  between  fifty  and  sixty  armed  and  drilled  regulars, 
twelve  good  militiamen  and  thirty  Miamis,  who  could 
have  been  forced  to  fight  if  they  had  been  properly  held 
in  hand — in  all  about  one  hundred  men.  They  had  a 
large  supply  of  beef  on  the  hoof,  of  which  many,  no 
doubt,  were  draught-oxen.  On  the  whole,  it  is  safe  to 
say  that,  had  they  had  a  due  sense  of  the  condition  of 
things,  they  might  have  made  themselves,  if  not  secure 
from  attack,  at  least  safe  from  annihilation;  for,  once 
massed  behind  the  wagons,  with  the  lake  at  their  back, 
the  first  onslaught  would  have  met  such  a  rebuff  as  would 
have  daunted  the  fickle  Indian,  who  never  perseveres 
against  severe  loss,  no  matter  how  great  the  stake  or  how 
heavy  the  damage  he  is  inflicting  on  his  enemy  One 
may  now  see  how  the  defence  should  have  been  con- 
ducted when  the  fatal  onslaught  did  occur.  The  wagons 
massed  along  the  shore,  the  troops — regulars,  militia  and 
Miami  escort,  every  man  and  woman  who  could  fire  or 
load  a  gun — using  these  wagons  as  a  breastwork  and  de- 
fending them  and  the  non-combatants  crouching  behind 
them;  this  would  have  discouraged  the  assailants  and 
given  time  for  a  parley,  during  which  the  friendly  Indians 
could  have  made  their  influence  felt. 

So  easy  it  is  to  be  wise  after  the  event  ! 

Mrs.  Heald  herself  (through  her  son)  gives  us  the  fol- 
lowing narrative: 


A   LONG    KARKWEU..  (J3 

i*eneral  Hull  had  sent  orders  to  Captain  Heald  to  evacuate  the 
fort  and  come  to  Detroit,  where  he  (Hull)  was  in  command  and  pre- 
paring for  a  battle.  The  messenger  arrived  at  Fort  Dearborn  about 
August  10.  The  evacuation  took  place  August  15,  181 2.  The  dis- 
patch was  brought  by  an  Indian,  and  the  date  of  the  order  showed 
that  the  fellow  was  a  little  too  long  in  making  the  trip.  He  gave 
some  excuse  for  this  when  the  captain  read  the  dispatch.  He  had 
gotten  lame,  or  his  moccasins  had  worn  out,  or  something  had  oc- 
curred which  made  him  a  little  late.  But  after  Wells  arrived — he 
came  011  the  12th  or  13th,  accompanied  by  thirty  mounted  Miamis 
— they  talked  the  matter  over  and  Wells  said  to  Captain  Heald  : 
"Captain,  that  red  rascal  somehow  or  other  was  a  longtime  getting 
here.  I  fear  he  ha^  notified  the  Indians  along  the  way  that  the 
things  will  probably  be  distributed  here  and  there  may  be  con- 
siderable of  a  crowd.  I  don't  fear  anything  serious,  but  I  had 
much  rather  the  Indian  had  come  right  straight  here.  He  had  no 
right  to  know,  unless  he  was  told,  what  the  order  was,  but  he  got 
posted  somehow  as  to  what  his  business  was  about." 

At  the  time  Wells  arrived  there  were  a  few  Indians  there  who 
had  found  out  that  the  fort  was  to  be  vacated,  and  by  the  time  they 
left  there  was  a  considerable  party  of  them  collected,  all  seemingly 
friendly  with  Captain  Heald.  Wells  had  very  little  idea  there  was 
to  be  a  fight  on  the  way,  yet  ''smelt  something  in  the  air."  Rut 
Captain  Heald's  orders  were  to  vacate,  and  he  must  obey  them  un- 
less something  turned  up  that  he  could  see  was  not  right.  They, 
however,  discussed  the  probabilities  of  a  siege.  They  had  but  few 
provisions,  but  little  ammunition,  and  1  hough t  there  was  but  little 
risk  in  going.  Heald's  orders  were  to  dispose  of  things  as  he 
thought  best.  There  was  but  little  whisky.  He  thought  what  they 
had  (one  barrel)  ought  not  to  go  into  th^  hands  of  the  Indians,  nor 
should  the  munitions  of  war;  and  they  took  the  whisky  to  a  well 
that  wras  inside  the  enclosure  and  poured  it  in,  and  what  little  arms 
and  ammunition  was  left,  besides  what  they  took  with  them,  was 
also  thrown  in. 

John  Kinzie,  the  trader  at  the  post,  objected  to  their  going  away, 
saying  that  his  business  would  be  interfered  with— perhaps  ruined. 
Captain  Heald  said  he  was  sorry  for  that,  but  that  he  had  to  obey 
orders  unless  there  was  something  objectionable  to  keep  him  from 
it.  He  advised  Kinzie,  however,  not  to  allow  the  Indians  to  get  to 
his  alcohol,  of  which  he  had  a  considerable  quantity — to  pour  it  on 
the  ground  or  in  the  river,  or  do  something  to  dispose  of  it;  that  it 
would  be  unsafe,  under  the  circumstances,  to  let  the  Indians  have 


u 


THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 


it.  Mr.  Kinzie  suggested  that  the  government  might  make  this 
loss  good,  but  this  Captain  Heald  could  not  vouch  for.  The  spirits 
were  destroyed. 

Suppose  the  veteran,  Wells,  tired  with  the  tramping, 
the  trifling  and  the  turmoil,  mounted  on  the  roof  of  the 
block-house  at  the  northwest  corner  of  the  stockade,  and 
in  the  shadow  of  its  motionless  flag,  pausing,  and  looking 
about  him — what  does  he  see  ? 

A  lonely,  weedy  streamlet  flows  eastward  past  the  fort, 
then  turns  sharp  to  the  right  and  makes  its  weak  way  by 
a  shallow,  fordable  ripple,  over  a  long  sandbar,  into  the 
lake,  a  half  mile  to  the  southward.     At  his  feet,  on  the 

river  bank,  stands  the 
United  States  Agency 
Storehouse.  Across  the 
river  and  a  little  to  the 
eastward  is  the  Kinzie 
house,  built  of  squared 
logs  by  Jean  Baptiste 
Pointe  de  Saible  nearly 
„  forty  years  ago,  now  re- 
N  paired,  enlarged  and  im- 
proved by  its  owner  and 
occupant,  John  Kinzie. 
A  canoe  lies  moored  to 
the  bank  in  front  of  the 
house;  when  any  of  the 
numerous  Kinzies  wish 
to  come  to  the  fort  they 
can  paddle  across  ;  when  any  one  wishes  to  go  over  he 
can  halloo  for  the  canoe.  Just  west  of  Kinzie' s  house 
is  Ouillmette's  cabin,  and  still  further  that  of  John  Burns. 
Opposite  Burns' s  place  [near  South  State  street]  a 
swampy  branch  enters  the  river  from  the  south,  and  on 
the  sides  of  this  branch  there  is  a  straggling  lot  of  Indian 


WILLIAM  WELLS. 


A   tONG    FAREWELL. 


95 


wigwams — ominous  sight  !  The  north  side  of  the  river  is 
all  wooded,  except  where  little  garden-patches  are  cleared 
around  the  human  habitations.  The  observer  may  see 
the  forks  of  the  stream  a  half-mile  to  the  westward,  but 
he  cannot  trace  its  branches,  either  "River  Guarie,"  to 
the  north,  or  "Portage  River,"  to  the  south,  for  the  trees 
hide  them.  Near  him,  to  the  west  and  south,  sandy  flats, 
grassy  marshes  and  general  desolation  are  all  that  he  can 
see.  (Will  that  barren  waste  ever  be  worth  a  dollar  an 
acre  ?)  Beyond,  out  of  sight,  past  the  bend  of  the  South 
Branch,  is  L,ee's  place,  with  its  fresh  blood-stains  and  its 
two  grassless  graves. 

And  so  his  eye  wanders  on,  across  the  sandy  flat,  across 
the  Indian  trail,  leading  west  of  south,  and  the  lake-shore 
trail  which  he  himself 
came  over,  and  finally 
rests  with  relief  on  the 
lake  itself,  the  dancing 
blue  water  and  the  sky 
that  covers  it. 

It  is  said  that  he  who 
is  about  to  die  has  some 
times  a  "second sight,"  a 
gift  of  looking  forward  to 
the  days  that  are  to  fol- 
low his  death. 

Suppose  the  weary  and 
anxious  observer  now  to 
fall  asleep,  and  in  dreams 
to  be  gifted  with  this 
prophetic  foresight,  and 
todiscern  the  change  that  four-score  years  are  to  bring. 

It  is  1892.  Close  at  hand  he  sees  the  streamlet,  now  a 
mighty  channel — a  fine,  broad,  deep  water-way,  running 
straight  between  long  piers  out  to  the  lake,  and  stretch- 


REBEKAH   (WELLS)   HEALD. 


96  THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

ing  inland  indefinitely;  bordered  by  elephantine  elevators, 
spanned  by  magnificent  draw-bridges,  each  built  of  steel 
and  moved  by  steam;  carrying  on  its  floods  great  pro- 
pellers of  100,000  bushels  of  grain  capacity.  Looking 
north,  west  and  south,  he  sees  serried  ranks  of  enormous 
buildings  towering  for  miles  on  miles,  each  one  so  tall  as 
to  dwarf  the  fort  and  the  block -house  to  nothingness.  He 
sees  hundreds  of  miles  of  paved  streets,  thronged  with 
innumerable  passengers  and  vehicles  moving  hither  and 
thither,  meeting  and  impeding  each  other,  so  that  some- 
times so  many  try  to  pass  that  none  can  pass;  all  must 
wait  until  the  uniformed  guardians  of  the  peace  bring 
order  out  of  chaos.  Every  acre  of  ground  in  sight  is 
worth  millions  of  dollars. 

His  dreaming  ears  must  be  stunned  by  the  thunder  of 
commerce,  his  nostrils  shocked  by  the  smell  of  the  vast 
food -factories,  his  skin  smutched  with  the  smoke  of  the 
burning  fuel  all  about  him,  to  keep  these  wheels  in  mo- 
tion. Bewildered  and  dumfounded,  even  more  wearied 
than  he  had  been  by  his  waking  view,  he  would  fain  turn 
his  eyes  to  the  east  and  rest  them  on  the  shining  calm  of 
the  great  lake,  the  dancing  blue  water  and  the  sky  that 
covers  it* 


And  so  we  bid  him  good-bye.  Whatever  dream  visited 
his  tired  soul  that  Friday  night  was  his  last.  The  next 
day  was  the  one  whereon  his  heroic  death  wras  to  crown 
his  brave,  loving,  faithful,  fruitless  effort  to  shield  the 
innocent  and  helpless  from  a  relentless  doom. 

As  the  fatal  Saturday  has  been  fully  treated  in  Part 
First  of  this  book,  I  now  pass  on  to  the  dark  days  which 
followed  it,  and  gather  up  the  details,  meager  and  scanty, 
of  the  later  life  of  the  survivors,  and  their  death,  so  far 
known  to  the  living  world. 


CHAPTER  V. 

FATE   OF    THE    FUGITIVES. 


VERY  word  bearing  upon 
the  adventures  of  the  hand- 
ful of  Chieagoans  left  alive 
on  Sunday,  August  16th, 
1 812,  has  been  carefully 
looked  up  and  faithfully 
transcribed.    Those  words  are 


■gsA  few   enough;  the   silence  and 
•  darkness  that   enshroud  their 
fate  are  more  pathetically  elo- 
quent than  speech  could  well 
be. 
To  begin  with  the  Healds,  who,  as 
we    have   seen,    were   brought    again 
.■^b.   together  on   the  morning  of  August 
1 6th,  by  the  half-breed,  Chandonnais. 
-^=^:=      Darius  Heald  continues  his  report  of 
his  mother's  narrative,    as  follows: 


^^ 


It  is  thought  that  the  Indians  went  off  down  the  lake  to  have  "a 
general  frolic  ;"  in  other  words,  to  torture  to  death  the  wrounded 
prisoners.  On  the  night  cf  the  sixteenth,  Captain  and  Mrs.  Heald, 
accompanied  by  an  Indian  named  Robinson  [probably  Chief  Rob- 
inson, well  known  in  Chicago  for  many  years],  embarked  in  a 
canoe  and,  unmolested,  commenced  their  journey  to  Mackinaw. 
Chandonnais'  friendship  was  no  half-way  matter.  They  traveled 
all  that  night  and  all  next  day,  until  late  in  the  evening,  when  they 
saw  a  young  deer  coming  down  to  the  water  in  a  little  clump  of 
bushes  to  get  a  drink.  The}r  drew  as  near  the  shore  as  possible, 
and  the  Indian  lad  stepped  out  and  waded  to  the  shore,  skipped 
down  the  bank  behind  the  deer  and  shot  it.  Then  they  pitched 
camp,  dressed  the  deer,  using  the  hide  as  a  kueading-board, 
whereon  Mrs.  Heald   stirred  up  some  flour  (they  having  brought  a 

97 


98  THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

little  in  a  leather  bag  from  the  fort)  into  a  stiff  paste,  which  she 
wound  around  sticks  and  toasted  over  the  fire  ;  and  this  Captain 
Heald  afterward  declared  to  be  the  finest  bread  he  ever  ate. 

Here  should  come  in,  (according  to  Mrs.  Helm's  ac- 
count in  Wau-Bun)  mention  of  a  halt  of  some  days  at  the 
mouth  of  the  St.  Joseph's  river.  It  seems  to  me  quite 
probable  that  the  lapse  of  time  had  obliterated  from  Darius 
Heald's  memory  that  part  of  his  mother's  narrative  ;  or 
that  he  passed  over,  in  talking  to  the  stenographer,  a 
matter  which  a  timely  question  would  have  brought  out. 
(See  the  Wau-Bun  story,  further  on.) 

They  pushed  on  to  Mackinaw,  as  Captain  Heald  said  he  had  no 
chance  of  getting  clear  except  by  going  to  a  British  officer,  and  it 
was  here  that  his  parole  was  taken.  It  happened  that  Captain 
Heald  and  the  officer  in  command  at  Mackinaw  were  both  Free 
Masons,  and  Mrs.  Heald  says  that  they  went  off  into  a  room 
by  themselves,  and  that  Captain  Heald  told  his  story  and  asked  for 
help.  He  said  that  the  Indians  would  pursue  them,  would  not  be 
more  than  twenty-four  hours  behind,  and  that  a  body  would  over- 
take them,  and  asked  the  British  officer  if  he  could  protect  them. 
The  British  officer  said  it  would  be  a  very  hard  matter  in  the  fix 
they  were  in.  If  the  Indians  came  down  they  might  be  overpow- 
ered ;  but  that  he  would  do  this:  He  had  a  little  "sailer"  [a  sail- 
ing-boat], and  he  would  put  Captain  Heald  and  his  wife  in  that  and 
anchor  it  near  the  shore,  and  as  soon  as  there  were  signs  of  Indians 
would  signal  them  to  start.  He  then  took  out  his  pocket-book  and 
told  Captain  Heald  to  help  himself.  "But,"  said  Captain  Heald, 
"we  may  never  meet  again."  "That,"  said  the  officer,  "makes  no 
difference.  You  have  a  wife  and  I  have  no  one  on  whom  to  spend 
money.  I  can  do  without  it.  You  take  it  and  use  it,  and  if  it  is 
ever  convenient  to  send  it  back  you  may  do  so."  Mrs.  Heald  says 
she  never  knew  why  the  officer  should  have  been  so  kind  to  them, 
but  laid  it  to  the  fact  of  their  both  being  Masons ;  but  said  she 
"could  never  get  anything  out  of  him"  (Captain  Heald),  although 
she  tried  more  than  once,  and  that  she  "  never  expected  to  get  to 
know  Masonic  secrets." 

However,  Captain  Heald  did  not  take  the  money  of  the  noble 
and  generous  enemy,  for  he  had  at  that  moment  some  two  hundred 
dollars,  probably  in  gold,  which  his  provident  wife  had  sewn  in  the 
cuffs  of  his  undershirt,  a  circumstance  which  would  indicate  that 
she.  at  least,  foresaw  possible  tribulation  before  they  left  the  fort. 


FATE   OF   THE   FUGITIVES.  99 

The  Indians  came  in  sight  looking  one  hundred  strong,  and  the 
British  officer  gave  the  sign  for  the  little  boat  to  move  on.  They 
went  down  to  Detroit,  and  thence  to  Buffalo,  whence  they  crossed 
to  Pittsburg  and  went  down  the  Ohio  River,  having  procured, 
through  an  officer,  some  conveyance  by  which  to  go  down  the 
river,  and  they  then  drifted  down,  part  of  the  wTay  by  boat  and  part 
of  the  way  by  raft,  and  in  this  way  reached  Kentucky  soil.  They 
reached  Mrs.  Heald'sold  home  by  night,  past  midnight,  and  rapped 
for  admittance.  Colonel  Samuel  Wells  asked,  "Who's  there?" 
"A  friend,"  said  Captain  Heald.  "  Well,  who  are  you?"  "Well, 
I  am  a  friend."  Mrs.  Heald  then  spoke  up  and  said,  "Yes,  two 
friends."  Colonel  Wells  thought  he  recognized  a  woman's  voice, 
and  came  to  the  door  and  opened  it,  and  found  himself  face  to  face 
with  his  daughter,  whom  he  had  not  seen  for  nearly  two  years, 
whom  he  had  supposed  to  be  dead,  who  left  him  as  a  bride  and  re- 
turned home  as  a  wounded  prisoner.  They  had  been  two  months 
on  the  way  from  Fort  Dearborn  to  Kentucky. 

Before  her  death,  in  1856,  Mrs.  Heald  had  dictated  to  Mrs.  Kerr, 
her  niece,  a  large  number  of  facts  connected  with  her  life.  The 
manuscript  was  foolscap,  and  contained,  Mr.  Heald  thinks,  some 
hundreds  of  pages.  It  was  in  existence  up  to  the  time  of  the  Union 
War,  and  he  remembers  seeing  it  wrapped  up  in  a  newspaper  and 
tied  with  twine,  at  the  Heald  residence,  in  St.  Charles  County,  Mis- 
souri, near  the  town  of  O'Fallon.  During  one  of  the  incursions  of 
Union  soldiers  the  house  was  ransacked  from  top  to  bottom.  Cap- 
tain Heald's  sword  was  taken  away,  and,  greatest  loss  of  all,  that 
manuscript  then  disappeared,  Mr.  Heald  thinks  probably  de- 
stroyed— burned  among  other  papers  supposed  to  be  of  no  value. 

A  negro  boy,  who  had  been  raised  by  Mr.  Heald,  received  word 
that  that  sword  had  been  left  somewhere  not  far  from  home,  and 
was  then  being  used  as  a  corn-knife,  and  he  obtained  it  and  brought 
it  back  to  Mr.  Heald,  who  recognized  it  as  what  was  left  of  his 
father's  old  sword  ;  but  alas  !  the  manuscript  has  never  been  heard 
of — probsbly  never  will  be.  This  is  the  neare.-t  approach  now  pos- 
sible to  a  reproduction  of  the  facts  it  contained. 

The  Wau-Bun  narrative  is  more  circumstantial,  if  not 
more  trustworthy,  and  tends  naturally  in  a  different 
direction.     It  goes  on  : 

Along  with  Mr.  Kinzie's  party  was  a  non-commissioned  officer 
who  had  made  his  escape  in  a  singular  manner.  As  the  troops  were 
about  leaving  the  fort  it  was  found  that  the  baggage  horses  of  the 


100  the  Chicago  massacre  op  1812. 

surgeon  had  strayed  off.  The  quartermaster-sergeant,  Griffith,  was 
sent  to  collect  them  and  bring  them  on,  it  being  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  recover  them,  siuce  their  packs  contained  part  of  the  sur- 
geon's apparatus  and  the  medicines  for  the  march. 

This  man  had  been  for  a  long  time  on  the  sick  report,  and  for 
this  reason  was  given  the  charge  of  the  baggage  instead  of  being 
placed  with  the  troops.  His  efforts  to  recover  the  horses  being  un- 
successful, he  was  hastening  to  rejoin  his  party,  alarmed  at  some 
appearances  of  disorder  and  hostile  indications  among  the  Indians, 
when  he  was  met  and  made  prisoner  by  To-pee-nee-be. 

Having  taken  from  him  his  arms  and  accoutrements,  the  chief 
put  him  in  a  canoe  and  paddled  him  across  the  river,  bidding  him 
make  for  the  woods  and  secrete  himself.  This  he  did,  and  the 
following  day  in  the  afternoon,  seeing  from  his  lurking-place  that 
all  appeared  quiet,  he  ventured  to  steal  cautiously  into  the  garden 
of  Ouilmette,  where  he  concealed  himself  for  a  time  behind  some 
currant-bushes. 

At  length  he  determined  to  enter  the  house,  and  accordingly 
climbed  up  through  a  small  back  window  into  the  room  where  the 
family  wrere.  This  was  just  as  the  Wabash  Indians  left  the  house  of 
Ouilmette  for  that  of  Mr.  Kiuzie.  The  danger  of  the  sergeant  was 
now  imminent.  The  family  stripped  him  of  his  uniform  and  ar- 
rayed him"  in  a  suit  of  deerskin,  with  belt,  moccasins  and  pipe,  like 
a  French  engage.  His  dark  complexion  and  large  black  whiskers 
favored  the  disguise.  The  fanuly  were  all  ordered  to  address  him 
in  F.ench,  and  although  utterly  ignorant  of  the  language,  he  con- 
tinued to  pass  for  a  Weem-tee-gosh,*  and  as  such  to  accompany 
Mr.  Kiuzie  and  his  family,  undetected  by  his  enemies,  until  they 
reached  a  place  of  safety. 

On  the  third  day  after  the  battle,  the  family  of  Mr.  Kiuzie,  with 
the  clerks  of  the  establishment,  were  put  into  a  boat  under  the  care 
of  Frangois,  a  half-breed  interpreter,  and  conveyed  to  St.  Joseph's, 
where  they  remained  until  the  following  November,  under  the  pro- 
tection of  To-pe-uee-bee's  band.  They  were  then  conducted  to  De- 
troit under  the  escort  of  Chandotinais  and  their  trusty  Indian 
friend,  Kee-po-tah,  and  delivered  up  as  prisoners  of  war  to  Colonel 
McKee,  the  British  Indian  Agent. 

Mr.  Kinzie  was  not  allowed  to  leave  St.  Joseph's  with  his  family, 
his  Indian  friends  insisting  on  his  remaining  and  endeavoring  to 
secure  some  remnant  of  his  scattered  property.  During  his  excur- 
sions with  them  for  that  purpose  he  wore  the  costume  and  paint  of 

*Freuchman. 


FATE   OF  THE   FUGITIVES. 


101 


the  tribe,  in  order  to  escape  capture  and  perhaps  death  at  the  hands 
of  those  who  were  still  thirsting  for  blood.  In  time,  however,  his 
anxiety  for  his  family  induced  him  to  follow  them  to  Detroit,  where 
in  the  month  of  January  he  was  received  and  paroled  by  General 
Proctor. 

Captain  and  Mrs.  Heald  had  been  sent  across  the  lake  to  St. 
Joseph's,  the  day  after  the  battle.  The  former  had  received  two 
wounds  and  the  latter  seven  in  the  engagement. 


ALEXANDER  ROBINSON  (in  old  age). 
Chief  of  the  Pottowatomies,  Chippewas  and  others. 

Lieutenant  Helm,  who  was  likewise  wounded,  was  carried  by 
some  friendly  Indian  to  their  village  on  the  Au  Sable,  and  thence 
to  Peoria,  where  he  was  liberated  by  the  intervention  of  Mr. 
Thomas  Forsyth,  the  half-brother  of  Mr.  Kinzie.  Mrs.  Helm  had 
accompanied  her  parents  to  St.  Joseph's,  where  they  resided  in  the 
family  of  Alexander  Robinson,*  receiving  from  them  all  possible 
kindness  and  hospitality  for  several  months. 

*This  Pottowatomie  chief,  well  known  to  many  of  the  citizens  of  Chicago, 
was  residing  at  Aux  Plaines  when  Wau-Bun  was  written. 


102  THE    CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

After  their  arrival  in  Detroit  Mrs.  Helm  was  joined  by  her  hus- 
band, when  they  were  both  arrested,  by  order  of  the  British  com- 
mander, and  sent  on  horseback,  in  the  dead  of  winter,  through 
Canada,  to  Fort  George,  on  the  Niagara  frontier.  When  they 
arrived  at  that  post  there  seemed  no  official  appointed  to  receive 
them,  and  notwithstanding  their  long  and  fatiguing  journey,  in 
weather  the  most  cold  and  inclement,  Mrs.  Helm,  a  delicate  woman 
of  seventeen  years,  was  permitted  to  sit  waiting  in  her  saddle, 
without  the  gate,  for  more  than  an  hour  before  the  refreshment  of 
fire  or  food,  or  even  the  shelter  of  a  roof,  was  offered  to  her. 
When  Colonel  Sheaffe,  who  had  been  absent  at  the  time,  was  in- 
formed of  this  brutal  iuhospitality,  he  expressed  the  greatest  indig- 
nation. He  waited  on  Mrs.  Helm  immediately,  apologized  in  the 
most  courteous  manner,  and  treated  her  and  Lieutenant  H.  with 
the  most  considerate  kindness,  until,  by  an  exchange  of  prisoners, 
they  were  liberated  and  found  means  to  reach  their  friends  in  Steu- 
ben County,  New  York. 

Captain  IJeald  had  been  taken  prisoner  by  an  Indian  from  the 
Kankakee  v"hoc had  a  strong  personal  regard  for  him,  and  who, 
when  he  saw  the  \younded  and  enfeebled  state  of  Mrs.  H.,  released 
'.ci  lrnsVud  "tftat  he  might  accompany  his  wife  to  St.  Joseph's. 
To  the  latter  place  they  were  accordingly  carried,  as  has  been 
related,  by  Chandonuai  and  his  party.  In  the  mean  time,  the 
Indian  who  had  so  nobly  released  his  prisoner  returned  to  his 
village  on  the  Kankakee,  where  he  had  the  mortification  of  finding 
that  his  conduct  had  excited  great  dissatisfaction  among  his  band. 
So  great  was  the  displeasure  manifested  that  he  resolved  to  make  a 
journey  to  St.  Joseph's  and  reclaim  his  prisoner.  News  of  his 
intention  being  brought  to  To-pee-nee-bee  and  Kee-po-tah,  under 
whose  care  the  prisoners  were,  they  held  a  private  council  with 
Chandonnai,  Mr.  Kinzie  and  the  principal  men  of  the  village,  the 
result  of  which  was,  a  determination  to  send  Captain  and  Mrs. 
Heald  to  the  island  of  Mackinac  and  deliver  them  up  to  the  British. 
They  were  accordingly  put  in  a  bark  canoe  and  paddled  by  Robin- 
son and  his  wife  a  distance  of  three  hundred  miles  along  the  coast 
of  Michigan,  and  surrendered  as  prisoners  of  war  to  the  command- 
ing officer  at  Mackinac. 

This,  though  discordant  with  the  shorter  report  received 
from  the  Healds,  certainly  seems  to  have  sound  basis  of 
truth.  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  Captain  and  his  wife 
did  halt  at  St.  Joseph's  and  that  John  Kinzie  had  some- 


FATE  OF  THE   FUGITIVES.  103 

thing  to  do  with  their  further  journey  to  Mackinac. 
Wau-Bun  proceeds  : 

As  an  instance  of  the  procrastinating  spirit  of  Captain  Heakl  it 
may  be  mentioned  that  even  after  he  had  received  certain  intelli- 
gence that  his  Indian  captor  was  on  his  way  from  the  Kankakee  to 
St.  Joseph's  to  retake  him,  he  would  still  have  delayed  another 
day  at  that  place  to  make  preparation  for  a  more  comfortable 
journey  to  Mackinac. 

Mrs.  Helm's  acuteness  in  finding  flaws  in  Captain 
Heald  is  quite  interesting.  But  as  this  Kankakee  infor- 
mation must  have  come  entirely  through  Indian  channels, 
and  as  the  savage  plan  is  ever  to  strike  first  and  warn 
afterward,  I  am  prone  to  suspect  that  he  applied  the 
"  personal  equation,"  and  made  light  of  the  tale;  and 
that  there  was  in  fact  little  in  it  to  frighten  a  brave  man 
and  his  heroic  wife.  {Per  contra,  see  the  Mackinaw  in- 
cident.) 

The  soldiers,  with  their  wives  and  surviving  children,  were  dis- 
persed among  the  different  villages  of  the  Pottowatomies,  upon  the 
Illinois,  Wabash  and  Rock  River,  and  at  Milwaukee,  until  the  fol  • 
lowing  spring,  when  they  were,  for  the  most  part,  carried  to  De- 
troit and  ransomed. 

We  should  like  to  believe  the  hopeful  views  here  given 
regarding  the  fate  of  the  remaining  prisoners.  In  truth, 
this  account  is  as  well  authenticated  as  is  that  given  in 
the  Niles'  Register,  as  copied  from  a  Plattsburgh  (N.  Y.) 
newspaper,  and  given  later  in  this  work. 

Mrs.  Burns,  with  her  infant,  became  the  prisoners  of  a  chief  who 
carried  her  to  his  village  and  treated  her  with  great  kindness.  His 
wife,  from  jealousy  of  the  favor  shown  to  the  white  woman  and 
her  child,  always  treated  them  with  great  hostility.  On  one  occa- 
sion she  struck  the  infant  with  a  tomahawk,  and  narrowly  missed 
her  aim  of  putting  an  end  to  it  altogether.*  They  were  not  long 
left  in  the  power  of  the  old  hag,  after  this  demonstration,  but  on 
the  first  opportunity  carried  to  a  place  of  safety. 

*Twenty-two  years  after  this,  as  I  was  on  a  journey  to  Chicago  in  the  steamer 
Uncle  Sam,  a  young  woman,  hearing  my  name,  introduced  herself  to  me,  and 
raising  her  hair  from  her  forehead,  showed  me  the  mark  of  the  tomahawk 
which  had  so  nearly  been  fatal  to  her.     (Mrs.  Kinzie,  in  Wau-Bun  ) 


104  THE   CHICAGO    MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

The  family  of  Mr.  Lee  had  resided  in  a  house  on  the  lake-shore, 
not  far  from  the  fort.  Mr.  Lee  was  the  owner  of  Lee's  Place,  which 
he  cultivated  as  a  farm.  It  was  his  son  who  ran  down  with  a  dis- 
charged soldier  to  give  the  alarm  of  "Indians"  at  the  fort  on  the 
a  ternoon  of  the  7th  of  April.  The  father,  the  son,  and  all  the  other 
members  had  fallen  victims  on  the  15th  of  August,  except  Mrs.  Lee 
and  her  young  infant.  These  were  claimed  by  Black  Partridge  and 
carried  to  his  village  on  the  Au  Sable.  He  had  been  particularly 
attached  to  a  little  girl  of  Mrs.  Lee's,  about  twelve  years  of  age. 
This  child  had  been  placed  on  horseback  for  the  march,  and  as  she 
was  unaccustomed  to  the  exercise,  she  was  tied  fast  to  the  saddle, 
lest  by  any  accident  she  should  slip  off  or  be  thrown. 

She  was  within  reach  of  the  balls  at  the  commencement  of  the 
engagement,  and  was  se vt  rely  wounded.  The  horse  set  off  on  a  full 
gallop,  which  partly  threw  her,  but  she  was  held  fast  by  the  bands 
which  confined  her,  and  hung  dangling  as  the  animal  ran  violently 
about.  In  this 'state  she  was  met  by  Black  Partridge,  who  caught  the 
horse  and  disengaged  her  from  the  saddle.  Finding  her  so  much 
wounded  that  she  could  not  recover,  and  that  she  was  suffering  great 
agony,  he  put  the  finishing  stroke  to  her  at  once  with  his  tomahawk. 
He  afterwards  said  that  this  was  the  hardest  thing  he  ever  tried  to 
do,  but  he  did  it  because  he  could  not  bear  to  see  her  suffer. 

He  took  the  mother  and  her  infant  to  his  village,  where  he  be- 
came warmly  attached  to  the  former — so  much  so  that  he  wished 
to  marry  her;  but,  as  she  very  naturally  objected,  he  treated  her 
with  the  greatest  respect  and  consideration.  He  was  in  no  hurry 
to  release  her,  for  he  was  in  hopes  of  prevailing  on  her  to  become 
his  wife.  In  the  course  of  the  wiuter  her  child  fell  ill.  Finding 
that  none  of  the  remedies  within  their  reach  were  effectual,  Black 
Partridge  proposed  to  take  the  little  one  to  Chicago,  where  there 
was  now  a  French  trader  living  in  the  mansion  of  Mr.  Kinzie,  and 
procure  some  medical  aid  from  him.  Wrapping  up  his  charge 
with  the  greatest  care  he  set  out  on  his  journey. 

When  he  arrived  at  the  residence  of  M.  du  Pin,  he  entered  the 
room  where  he  was,  and  carefully  placed  his  burden  on  the  floor. 

"  What  have  you  there  ?  "  asked  M.  du  Pin. 

"A  young  raccoon  which  I  brought  you  as  a  present,"  was  the 
reply,  and  opening  the  pack  he  showed  the  little  sick  infant. 

When  the  trader  had  prescribed  for  its  complaint,  and  Black 
Partridge  was  about  to  return  to  his  home,  he  told  his  friend  his 
proposal  to  Mrs.  Lee  to  become  his  wife,  and  the  manner  in  which 
it  had  been  received. 


FATE   OP  THE    FUGITIVES.  105 

M.  du  Pin  entertained  some  fears  that  the  chief's  resolution 
might  not  hold  out,  to  leave  it  to  the  lady  herself  whether  to  receive 
his  addresses  or  not,  so  he  entered  at  once  into  a  negotiation  for 
her  ransom,  and  so  effectually  wrought  upon  the  good  feelings  of 
Black  Partridge  that  he  consented  to  bring  his  fair  prisoner  at  once 
to  Chicago,  that  she  might  be  restored  to  her  friends. 

Whether  the  kind  trader  had  at  the  outset  any  other  feeling 
than  sympathy  and  brotherly  kindness,  we  cannot  say — we  only 
know  that  in  process  of  time,  Mrs.  Lee  became  Madame  du  Pin, 
and  that  they  lived  together  in  great  happiness  for  many  years  after. 

vSo  disappears,  from  earliest  Chicago  annals,  the  name 
of  Lee.  The  father  had  been  a  honseholder,  living  some- 
where about  where  the  new  Public  Library  is  now  build- 
ing, and  his  farm  was  (after  Pere  Marquette's  "cabinage") 
the  very  first  settlement  on  the  West  Side  of  the  South 
Branch  or  "  Portage  River."  His  son  escaped  from  the 
murderers  at  "  Hardscrabble"  in  spring,  only  to  perish, 
with  his  father,  during  the  massacre,  or  perhaps  in  the 
"general  frolic"  that  followed.  Then  the  widow  be- 
comes Mrs.  du  Pin  and  we  hear  no  more  of  the  Lees. 
There  is  a  grim  completeness  about  the  domestic  drama. 
On  Friday  it  has  father,  mother,  son,  daughter  and  baby, 
on  Saturday,  father  and  son  are  killed  in  battle  (or  by 
torture)  and  daughter  mangled  by  a  horse's  feet  and  fin- 
ished by  a  tomahawk  ;  a  few  months  later  the  puny  baby 
is  brought  in  to  be  "doctored"  and  then  the  widow 
marries  again  and  lives  on  "in  great  happiness." 

The  fate  of  Nau-non-gee,  one  of  the  chiefs  of  the  Calumet  vil- 
lage, and  who  is  mentioned  in  the  early  part  of  the  narrative, 
deserves  to  be  recorded. 

During  the  battle  of  the  15th  of  August,  the  chief  objeet  of  his 
attack  was  one  Sergeant  Hays,  a  man  from  whom  he  had  received 
many  acts  of  kindness. 

After  Hays  had  received  a  ball  through  the  body,  this  Indian 
ran  up  to  tomahawk  him,  when  the  Sergeant,  collecting  his 
remaining  strength,  pierced  him  through  the  body  with  his  biyonet. 
They  fell  together.  Other  Indians  running  up  soon  dispatched 
Hays,  and  it  was  not  until  then  that  his  bayonet  wTas  extracted 
from  the  body  of  his  adversary. 


106 


THE    CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 


The  wounded  chief  was  carried  after  the  battle  to  his  village  on 
the  Calumet,  where  he  survived  for  several  days.  Finding  his  end 
approaching,  he  called  together  his  young  men,  and  enjoined  them 
in  the  most  solemn  manner  to  regard  the  safety  of  their  prisoners 
after  his  death,  and  to  take  the  lives  of  none  of  them,  from  respect 
to  his  memory,  as  he  deserved  his  fate  from  the  hands  of  those 
whose  kindness  he  had  so  ill-requited. 


Froir  "  Cyclopaedia  o-  United  State!   History."— Copyright, 
1881,  by  Harpei  *  Brothers,. 


TECUMSEH. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

JOHN    KINZIK'S    CAPTIVITY. 

WE  are,  and  always  were  (and  I 
hope  always  will  be),  anything 
but  a  "  military  nation."  1813 
opened  very  gloomily  for  the 
United  States  ;  but,  as  our  quiet 
country  has  shown  in  several  times  of 
trial,  it  takes"  some  disaster  to  wake 
up  Americans  to  the  claims  of  the 
land  they  love  and  the  government 
they  themselves  have  made.  Bunker 
Hill  was  a  defeat,  in  form,  but  the 
patriots  only  fell  back  a  little  way  ; 
ithen  halted  and  quietly  remarked : 
"We  have  several  more  hills  to  sell 
'at  the  same  price,"  the  price  being 
such  a  loss  as  the  British  army  had  rarely  met.  The 
war  of  18 1 2  began  with  the  loss  of  Mackinaw  and  Detroit 
on  land  and  the  frigate  Chesapeake  at  sea  ;  but  Scott  at 
Chippewa  and  Lundy'sLane,  Harrison  at  the  Thames  and 
Jackson  at  New  Orleans  caused  all  land  reverses  to  be 
forgotten  ;  while  Perry's  victory  on  Lake  Erie,  together 
with  a  splendid  cluster  of  triumphs  on  the  ocean,  gave 
our  navy  a  lustre  which  it  has  never  lost  or  suffered  to 
become  tarnished. 

Curiously  enough,  Mr.  Kinzie,  our  own  Chicago  pio- 
neer, was  a  witness  to  the  finish  of  the  glorious  day  at 
Put-in-bay,  in  announcing  which  Commodore  Oliver 
Hazard  Perry  added  to  our  war-cries  the  immortal  words, 
"  We  have  met  the  enemy  and  they  are  ours." 

107 


108  THE   CHICAGO    MASSACRE    OF    l8l2. 

Here  is  Mrs.  Kinzie's  narrative  of  the  captivity  of  her 
father-in-law,  embodying  his  experiences  at   that   time : 

CAPTIVITY    OF   JOHN    KINZIE. 

It  had  been  a  stipulation  of  General  Hull  at  the  surrender  of 
Detroit  that  the  inhabitants  of  that  place  should  remain  undis- 
turbed in  their  homes.  Accordingly  the  family  of  Mr.  Kinzie  took 
up  their  quarters  with  their  friends  in  the  old  mansion  which  many 
wdll  still  recall  as  standing  on  the  north-east  corner  of  Jefferson 
Avenue  and  Wayne  Street. 

The  feelings  of  indignation  and  sympathy  were  constantly 
aroused  in  the  hearts  of  the  citizens  during  the  winter  that  ensued. 
They  were  almost  daily  called  upon  to  witness  the  cruelties  prac- 
ticed upon  American  prisoners  brought  in  by  their  Indian  captors. 
Those  who  could  scarcely  drag  their  wounded,  bleeding  feet  over 
the  frozen  ground,  were  compelled  to  dance  for  the  amusement  of 
the  savages,  and  these  exhibitions  sometimes  took  place  before  the 
government  house,  the  residence  of  Colonel  McKee.  Some  of  the 
British  officers  looked  down  from  their  windows  at  these  heart- 
rending performances  ;  for  the  honor  of  humanity  wye  will  hope 
such  instances  were  rare. 

Everything  that  could  be  made  available  among  the  effects  of  the 
citizens  were  offered,  to  ransom  their  countrymen  from  the  hands 
of  these  inhuman  beings.  The  prisoners  brought  in  from  the  River 
Raisin — those  unfortunate  men  who  were  permitted,  after  their 
surrender  to  General  Proctor,  to  be  tortured  and  murdered  by 
inches  by  his  savage  allies,  excited  the  sympathies  and  called  for 
the  action  of  the  whole  community.  Private  houses  were  turned 
into  hospitals,  and  ever)-  one  was  forward  to  get  possession  of  as 
many  as  possible  of  the  survivors.  To  effect  this  even  the  articles 
of  their  apparel  were  bartered  by  the  ladies  of  Detroit,  as  they 
watched  from  their  doors  or  windows  the  miserable  victims  being 
carried  about  for  sale. 

In  the  dwelling  of  Mr.  Kinzie,  one  large  room  was  devoted  to 
the  reception  of  these  sufferers.  Few  of  them  survived.  Among 
those  spoken  of  as  the  objects  of  deepest  interest,  were  two  young 
gentlemen  of  Kentucky,  both  severely  wouuded,  and  their  wounds 
aggravated  to  a  mortal  degree  by  subsequent  ill-usage  and  hard- 
ships. Their  solicitude  for  each  other  and  their  exhibition  in  various 
ways  of  the  most  tender  fraternal  affection  created  an  impression 
never  to  be  forgotten. 

The  last  bargain  made  was  by  Black  Jim,  and  one  of  the  chil- 


JOHN  kinzie's  captivity.  109 

dren,  who  had  permission  to  redeem  a  negro  servant  of  the  gallant 
Colonel  Allen,  with  an  old  white  horse,  the  only  available  article 
that  remained  among  their  possessions. 

A  brother  of  Colonel  Allen  afterward  came  to  Detroit,  and  the 
negro  preferred  returning  to  servitude  rather  than  remaining  a 
stranger  in  a  strange  land. 

Mr.  Kiuzie,  as  has  been  related,  joined  his  family  at  Detroit  in 
the  month  of  January.  A  short  time  after,  suspicions  arose  that  he 
was  in  correspondence  with  General  Harrison,  who  was  now  at 
Fort  Meigs,  and  who  was  believed  to  be  meditating  an  advance 
upon  Detroit.  Lieutenant  Watson  of  the  British  army  waited  upon 
Mr.  Kiuzie  one  day  with  an  invitation  to  the  quarters  of  General 
Proctor  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  saying  he  wished  to  speak 
with  him  on  business.  Quite  unsuspicious,  he  complied  with  the 
invitation,  when  to  his  surprise  he  was  ordered  into  confinement, 
and  strictly  guarded  in  the  house  of  his  former  partner,  Mr.  Patter- 
son of  Sandwich.  Finding  he  did  not  return  to  his  home,  Mrs. 
Kiuzie  informed  some  of  the  Indian  chiefs,  his  particular  friends, 
who  immediately  repaired  to  the  headquarters  of  the  commanding 
officer,  demanded  their  "friend's  "  release  and  brought  him  back 
to  his  home.  After  awaiting  a  time  until  a  favorable  opportunity 
presented  itself,  the  General  sent  a  detachment  of  dragoons  to 
arrest  him.  They  had  succeeded  in  carrying  him  away  and  cross- 
ing the  river  with  him.  Just  at  this  moment  a  party  of  friendly 
Indians  made  their  appearance. 

"Where  is  Shaw-nee  aw-kee  ?  "  was  the  first  question. 
"  There,"  replied  his  wife,  pointing   across  the    river,    "in  the 
hands  of  the  redcoats  who  are  taking  him  away  again." 

The  Indians  ran  to  the  river,  seized  some  canoes  that  they  found 
there,  and  crossing  over  to  Sandwich  compelled  General  Proctor  a 
second  time  to  forego  his  intentions. 

A  third  time  this  officer  was  more  successful,  and  succeeded  in 
arresting  Mr.  Kiuzie  and  conveying  him,  heavily  ironed,  to  Fort 
Maiden  in  Canada,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Detroit  river.  Here  he  was 
at  first  treated  with  great  severity,  but  after  a  time  the  rigor  of  his 
confinement  was  somewhat  relaxed,  and  he  was  permitted  to  walk 
on  the  bank  of  the  river  for  air  and  exercise. 

On  the  ioth  of  September,  as  he  was  taking  his  promenade  under 
the  close  supervision  of  a  guard  of  soldiers,  the  whole  party  were 
startled  by  the  sound  of  guns  on  Lake  Erie  at  no  great  distance  be- 
low. What  could  it  mean?  It  must  be  Commodore  Barclay  firing 
into  some  of  the  Yankees.     The  firing  continued.     The  time  allot- 


110  THE   CHICAGO    MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

ted  the  prisoner  for  his  daily  walk  expired,  but  neither  he  nor  his 
guard  observed  the  lapse  of  time,  so  anxiously  were  they  listening 
to  what  they  now  felt  sure  was  an  engagement  between  ships  of 
war.  At  length  Mr.  Kinzie  was  reminded  that  the  hour  for  his 
return  to  confinement  had  arrived.  He  petitioned  for  another  half 
hour. 

"  Let  me  stay,"  said  he,  "  until  we  can  learn  how  the  battle  has 
gone." 

Very  soon  a  sloop  appeared  under  press  of  sail,  rounding  the 
point,  and,  presently,  two  gun-boats  in  chase  of  her. 

"She is  running — she  bears  the  British  colors,"  cried  he — "yes, 
yes,  they  are  lowering.  She  is  striking  her  flag!  Now,"  turning 
to  the  soldiers,  "  I  will  go  back  to  prison  contented,  I  know  how 
the  battle  h^.s  gone." 

The  sloop  was  the  L,ittle  Belt,  the  last  of  the  squadron  captured 
by  the  gallant  Perry,  on  that  memorable  occasion,  which  he  an- 
nounced in  the  immortal  words:  "We  have  met  the  enemy  and 
they  are  ours  !  " 

Matters  were  growing  critical,  and  it  was  necessary  to  transfer 
all  prisoners  to  a  place  of  greater  security  than  the  frontier  -was 
now  likely  to  be.  It  was  resolved  therefore  to  send  Mr.  Kinzie  to 
the  mother  country.  Nothing  has  ever  appeared  which  would 
explain  this  course  of  General  Proctor  in  regard  to  this  gentleman. 
Ke  had  been  taken  from  the  bosom  of  his  family,  where  he  was 
living  quietly  under  the  parole  which  he  had  received,  and  was 
protected  by  the  stipulations  of  the  surrender.  He  was  kept  for 
months  in  confinement.  Now  he  was  placed  on  horseback  under 
a  strong  guard,  who  announced  that  they  had  orders  to  shoot  him 
through  the  head  if  he  offered  to  speak  to  a  person  on  the  road. 
He  was  tied  upon  the  saddle  in  a  way  to  prevent  his  escape,  and 
thus  they  set  out  for  Quebec.  A  little  incident  occurred  which 
will  help  to  illustrate  the  course  invariably  pursued  toward  our 
citizens  at  this  period,  by  the  British  army  on  the  north-western 
frontier. 

The  saddle  upon  which  Mr.  Kinzie  rode  had  not  been  properly 
fastened,  and  owing  to  the  rough  motion  of  the  animal  on  which  it 
was,  it  turned  so  as  to  bring  the  rider  into  a  most  awkward  and 
painful  position.  His  limbs  being  fastened  he  could  not  disengage 
himself,  and  in  this  manner  he  was  compelled  by  those  who  had 
charge  of  him,  to  ride  until  he  was  nearly  exhausted,  before  they 
had  the  humanity  to  release  him. 


JOHN   KINZIK'S   CAPTIVITY. 


Ill 


112  THK   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

Arrived  at  Quebec,  he  was  put  ou  board  a  small  vessel  to  be 
sent  to  England.  The  vessel  when  a  few  days  out  at  sea  was 
chased  by  an  American  frigate  and  driven  into  Halifax.  A  second 
time  she  set  sail  when  she  spraug  a-leak  and  was  compelled  to  put 
back. 

The  attempt  to  send  him  across  the  ocean  was  now  abandoned, 
and  he  was  returned  to  Quebec.  Another  step,  equally  inexplicable 
with  his  arrest,  was  now  taken.  This  was  his  release,  and  that  of 
Mr.  Macomb,  of  Detroit,  who  was  also  in  confinement  at  Quebec, 
and  the  permission  given  them  to  return  to  their  friends  and  fam- 
ilies, although  the  war  was  not  yet  ended.  It  may  possibly  be 
imagined  that  in  the  treatment  these  gentlemen  received,  the 
British  commander  sheltered  himself  under  the  plea  of  their  being 
"native  born  British  subjects,"  and  perhaps  when  it  was  ascer- 
tained that  Mr.  Kinzie  was  indeed  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  it 
was  thought  safest  to  release  him. 

In  the  meantime  General  Harrison  at  the  head  ot  his  troops  had 
reached  Detroit.  He  landed  ou  the  29th  of  September.  All  the 
citizens  went  forth  to  meet  him— Mrs.  Kinzie  leading  her  children 
by  the  hand,  was  of  the  number.  The  General  accompanied  her 
to  her  home  and  took  up  his  abode  there.  On  his  arrival  he  was 
introduced  to  Kee-po-tah,  who  happened  to  be  on  a  visit  to  the 
family  at  that  time.  The  General  had  seen  the  chief  the  preced- 
ing year,  at  the  council  at  Viucennes,  and  the  meeting  was  one  of 
great  cordiality  and  interest. 

Additional  particulars  about  the  interesting  career  of 
this  remarkable  man  are  given  further  on.  (See  Appen- 
dix D.) 


CHAPTER  VII. 

CONTEMPORANEOUS    REPORTS. 


ARDIvY  any  one  insti- 
tution existing  four 
score  years  ago,  shows 
so  wondrous  a  change 
as  does  the  American 
newspaper.     The  steamboat,  rail- 
__  road,  telegraph,  telephone,  power- 
press  and  other  mechanical  aids 
to  the  spreading  of  news  have  all 
been  invented  and  perfected  with- 
in that  time,   while  gas  and  elec- 
tric light  have  aided  in  the  prompt 
reproduction  of  intelligence,   and 
penny-postage   in    its    dissemina- 
tion.    So  that  which  was  then  an 
infant — say  rather  an  embryo — is 
now  a  giant. 

The  very  first  published  narra- 
vi<^*2,^  tive  of  the  massacre  which  is  now 
massacre  tree,  18th  street,  at  hand  is  the  following  account, 
very  short  and  full  of  errors,  taken  from  the  Buffalo  Ga- 
zette (date  not  given)  and  published  in  Niles'  Weekly 
Register  of  October  3,  igi2.:''- 

Fall  of  Fort  Dearborn,  at  Chicago. — Yesterday  afternoon  the 
Queen  Charlotte  arrived  at  Fort  Erie,  seven  days  from  Detroit.  A 
flag  of  truce  soon  landed,  at  Buffalo  Creek,  Major  Atwater  and 
Lieut.  J.  h.  Eastman,  who  gave  the  following  account  of  the  fall  of 

*This  paper,  published  in  Baltimore,  was  the  best  general  chronicle  of 
events  reported  by  correspondents  or  appearing  in  the  few  and  meager  outlying 
journals  of  the  day. 

113 


114  THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

Fort  Dearborn:  On  the  first  of  September  a  PottowatoraJ-e  chief 
arrived  at  Detroit  and  stated  that  about  the  middle  of  August  Cap- 
tain Wells,  from  Fort  Wayne  [an  interpreter],  arrived  at  Fort 
Dearborn  to  advise  the  commandant  of  that  fort  to  evacuate  it  and 
retreat.  In  the  mean  time  a  large  bo  !y  of  Indians  of  different  na- 
tions had  collected  and  menaced  the  garrison.  A  council  was  held 
with  the  Indians,  in  which  it  was  agreed  that  the  party  in  the  gar- 
rison should  be  spared  on  condition  that  all  property  in  the  fort 
should  be  given  up.  The  Americans  marched  out  but  were  fired 
upon  and  nearly  all  killed.  There  were  about  fifty  men  in  the  fort 
beside  women  and  children,  and  probably  not  more  than  ten  or 
twelve  taken  prisoners.  Captain  Wells  and  Heald  [the  command- 
ant] were  killed. 

This  brief  report  interests  us  in  various  ways.  Detroit 
was  in  the  British  hands,  and  the  Queen  Charlotte  a  Brit- 
ish ship,  for  Perry's  victory  had  not  yet  been  won.  Major 
Atwater  and  Lieut.  Eastman,  here  liberated  by  the  Brit- 
ish under  flag  of  truce,  were  probably  part  of  the  army 
surrendered  by  General  Hull  on  August  16,  and  paroled; 
these  officers  having  remained  in  Detroit  for  some  unex- 
plained reason — perhaps  because  they  were  citizens  of 
that  city,  as  Atwater  is  an  old  Detroit  name.  (It  has 
been  given  to  a  street  there.)  The  Queen  Charlotte  was 
one  of  the  ships  captured  by  Perry  on  Sept.  10,  1813,  and 
was  sunk  in  Put-in  Bay,  and  twenty  years  later  she  was 
raised,  repaired  and  put  again  in  commission,  this  time 
as  a  trading-vessel,  and  it  was  on  her  that  John  Dean 
Caton,  later  Chief  Justice  of  Illinois,  and  now  (1893)  an 
honored  resident  of  Chicago,  took  passage  at  Buffalo  with 
his  bride,  in  1834,  and  came  to  the  land  which  was  to  be 
their  home  for  sixty  years.* 

Regarding  the  rest  of  the  fugitives  we  have  very  scanty 
reports.  The  next  item  we  find  is  an  utterly  wild,  false 
and  fanciful  statement  of  Mrs.  Helm's  vicissitudes,  con- 
tradicting in  every  particular  her  own  narrative,  as  given 
in  Wau-Bun. 

*Mrs.  Caton  died  in  1892. 


CONTEMPORANEOUS   REPORTS.  115 

[From  Niles'  Weekly  Register,  Saturday,  April  13,  1813.] 

Savage  Barbarity. — Mrs.  Helm,  the  wife  of  Lieutenant  Helm, 
who  escaped  from  the  butchery  of  Chicauga  by  the  assistance  of  a 
humane  Indian,  has  arrived  at  this  place  [Buffaloe],  The  account 
of  her  sufferings  during  three  mouths'  slavery  among  the  Indians 
and  three  months'  imprisonment  among  their  allies,  would  make  a 
most  interesting  volume.  One  circumstance  alone  will  I  mention. 
During  five  days  after  she  was  taken  prisoner  she  had  not  the  least 
sustenance,  and  was  compelled  to  drag  a  canoe  (barefooted  and 
wading  along  the  stream)  in  which  there  were  some  squaws,  and 
when  she  demanded  food,  some  flesh  of  her  murdered  countrymen 
aud  a  piece  of  Col.  Wells'  heart  was  offered  her. 

She  knows  the  fact  that  Col.  Proctor,  the  British  commander  at 
Maiden,  bought  the  scalps  of  our  murdered  garrison  of  Chicauga, 
and  thanks  to  her  noble  spirit,  she  boldly  charged  him  with  his 
infamy  in  his  own  house. 

She  knows  further,  from  the  tribe  with  whom  she  was  a  pris- 
oner, and  who  were  the  perpetrators  of  those  murders,  that  they 
intended  to  remain  true,  but  that  they  received  orders  from  the 
British  to  cut  off  our  garrison,  whom  they  were  to  escort. 

Oh,  spirits  of  the  murdered  Americans!  can  ye  not  rouse  your 
countrymen,  your  friends,  your  relations,  to  take  ample  vengeance 
on  those  worse  than  savage  bloodhounds? 

An  Officer. 

March  18th,  18 13. 

This  is  manifestly  written  to  "lire  the  patriotic  heart" 
of  the  country  to  rally  to  the  defence  of  "Buffaloe,"  a 
frontier  town  in  deadly  fear  of  its  Canadian  neighbors,  in 
sight  beyond  the  Niagara  River.  Mrs.  Helm  herself  must 
have  learned  with  surprise  that  while  she,  with  the  rest 
of  the  Kinzie  family,  was  hospitably  entertained  at  "Parc- 
aux  vaches,"  on*  the  St.  Joseph,  she  was  suffering  "three 
months'  slavery  among  the  Indians;"  and  later,  while 
living  in  Detroit,  she  was  enduring  "three  months'  im- 
prisonment among  their  allies,"  the  English.  Also  that 
during  the  five  days  after  the  massacre,  when  she  tells  us 
she  was,  with  much  discomfort  and  more  alarm,  living  in 
the  Kinzie  mansion  with  her  relatives,  she  was  really 
dragging  a  canoe,  barefooted,  wading  along  the  stream, 


116  TH£   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

deprived  of  all  sustenance  except  the  flesh  of  her  mur- 
dered countrymen,  especially  poor  Wells's  carved-up  and 
bleeding  heart — which,  by  the  way,  she  had  only  heard 
of  ;  never  seen !  Such  things  serve  very  well  to  prove  to 
us  that,  as  creators  of  imaginative  fiction,  newspaper 
correspondents  of  those  days  were  equal  even  to  those  of 
our  own. 

More  absurd,  if  possible,  is  a  letter  printed  in  Niles' 
Register  of  May  8,  1813,  purporting  to  have  been  written 
by  one  Walter  Jordan,  a  non-commissioned  officer  of  reg- 
ulars, stationed  at  Fort  Wayne,  to  his  wife,  in  Alleghany 
County,  dated  Fort  Wayne,  October  19,  181 2.  In  the 
first  place,  it  is  most  unlikely  that  any  such  white  man 
should  have  been  in  Captain  Wells's  company  and  re- 
mained unmentioned.  We  hear  of  nobody  as  arriving  but 
Captain  Wells  and  his  thirty  Miami  Indians.  In  our  day, 
it  is  true,  a  captain  would  be  likely  to  be  accompanied  by 
an  orderly;  but  WTells  had  been  brought  up  in  too  stern  a 
school  to  be  provided  with  such  an  attendant.  Then,  too, 
the  narrative  bristles  with  absurdities.  The  story  is  as 
follows: 

I  take  my  pen  to  inform  you  that  I  am  well,  after  a  long  and 
perilous  journey  through  the  Indian  country.  Capt.  Wells,  myself, 
arid  an  hundred  friendly  Indians,  left  Fort  Wayne  on  the  1st  of 
August  to  escort  Captain  Heald  from  Fort  Chicauga,  as  he  was  in 
danger  of  being  captured  by  the  British.  Orders  had  been  given  to 
abandon  the  fort  and  retreat  to  Fort  Wayne,  a  distance  of  150  miles. 
We  reached  Chicauga  on  the  10th  of  August,  and  on  the  15th  pre- 
pared for  an  immediate  march,  burning  all  that  we  could  not  fetch 
wTith  us.  Oh  the  15th  at  8  o'clock  we  commenced  our  march  with 
our  small  force,  which  consisted  of  Captain  Wells,  myself,  one  hun- 
dred Confute  Indians,  Captain  Heald's  one  hundred  men,  ten 
women,  twenty  children — in  all  232.  We  had  marched  half  a  mile 
when  we  were  attacked  by  600  Kickapoo  and  Wynbago  Indians. 
In  the  moment  of  trial  our  Confute  savages  joined  the  savage 
enemy.  Our  contest  lasted  fifteen  minutes,  when  every  man, 
woman  and  child  was  killed  except  fifteen.  Thanks  be  to  God,  I 
was  one  of  those  who  escaped.     First  they  shot  the  feather  off  my 


CONTEMPORANEOUS    REPORTS.  117 

cap,  next  the  epaulet  off  my  shoulder,  and  then  the  handle  from 
my  sword;  I  then  surrendered  to  four  savage  rascals.  The  Confute 
chief,  taking  me  by  the  hand  and  speaking  English,  said:  "Jor- 
dan, I  know  you.  You  gave  me  tobacco  at  Fort  Wayne.  We 
won't  kill  you,  but  come  and  see  what  we  will  do  to  your  captain." 
So,  leading  me  to  where  Wells  lay,  they  cut  off  his  head  and  put  it 
on  a  long  pole,  while  another  took  out  his  heart  and  divided  it  up 
among  the  chiefs  and  ate  it  up  raw.  Then  they  scalped  the  slain 
and  stripped  the  prisoners,  and  gathered  in  a  ring  with  us  fifteen 
poor  wretches  in  the  middle.  They  had  nearly  fallen  out  about  the 
divide,  but  my  old  chief,  the  White  Racoon,  holding  me  fast,  they 
made  the  divide  and  departed  to  their  towns.  They  tied  me  hard 
and  fast  that  night,  and  placed  a  guard  over  me.  I  lay  down  and 
slept  soundly  until  morning,  for  I  was  tired.  In  the  morning  they 
untied  me  and  set  me  parching  corn,  at  which  I  worked  attentively 
until  night.  They  said  that  if  I  would  stay,  and  not  run  away,  they 
would  make  a  chief  of  me;  but  if  I  would  attempt  to  run  away  they 
would  catch  me  and  burn  me  alive.  I  answered  them  with  a  fine 
story  in  order  to  gain  their  confidence,  and  finally  made  my  escape 
from  them  on  the  19th  of  August,  and  took  one  of  the  best  horses 
to  carry  me,  being  seven  days  in  the  wilderness.  I  was  joyfully 
received  at  Wayne  on  the  26th.  On  the  28th  day  they  attacked  the 
fort  and  blockaded  us  until  the  16th  of  September,  when  we  were 
relieved  by  General  Harrison. 

One  is  uncertain  whether  to  rate  this  as  a  yarn  made 
by  some  penny-a-liner  out  of  such  scraps  as  might  be 
picked  up  from  common  rumor  and  the  tales  of  returned 
stragglers  of  the  thirty  Indians  who  ran  away  when  the 
attack  began,  or  the  lying  story  of  a  fellow  who  was 
really  of  the  party,  and  one  of  the  leaders,  not  in  the 
fight,  but  in  the  flight.  His  enumeration  of  "one  hun- 
dred Confute  Indians,  "(no  tribe  of  that  name  being  known 
to  history)  in  place  of  the  band  of  thirty  Miamis,  his 
estimate  of  Captain  Heald's  "one  hundred  men,  ten 
women  and  twenty  children,"  his  march  of  "half  a  mile," 
his  statement  that  all  were  killed  except  fifteen,  which 
would  make  the  loss  of  life  over  two  hundred,  in  place  of 
Captain  Heald's  estimate  of  fifty-two,  all  tend  to  force  the 
conclusion  that  there  was  no  Walter  Jordan  in  the  mat- 


118  THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

ter.  The  latter  part  of  the  story,  representing  himself  as 
heroically  losing  feather,  epaulet  and  sword-hilt  to  the 
rascally  savages,  who  still  refrained  from  inflicting  bod- 
ily injury  on  him,  his  then  being  kindly  but  firmly  led  to 
the  place  where  poor  Wells,  in  the  presence  of  his  niece, 
was  waiting  to  have  his  head  cut  off  and  set  up  on  a  pole, 
and  his  heart  cut  out  and  divided  among  the  chiefs,  etc., 
tends  to  the  belief  that  Walter  Jordan  was  present, 
ran  away,  saved  himself,  reached  Fort  Wayne  and  de- 
vised this  cock-and-bull  story  to  explain  his  long  absence, 
his  personal  safety  and  his  possession  of  a  horse  which 
did  not  belong  to  him.  Another  hypothesis  is  that  he 
started  from  Fort  Wayne  with  Wells,  deserted  on  the 
road,  hung  around  until  he  got  the  story  as  told  by  the 
Indian  fugitives,  and  (finding  that  his  captain  was  dead) 
put  a  bold  face  on  the  matter  and  came  in,  bringing  a 
horse  he  had  been  lucky  enough  to  "capture"  when  its 
owner  was  not  looking. 

The  next  item  is  dated  more  than  a  year  later;  a  year 
during  which  the  wretched  captives  seem  to  have  suf- 
fered miseries  indescribable.  The  story  bears  the  stamp 
of  truth  so  far  as  the  escaped  fugitives  knew  it: 

[From  Niles'  Weekly  Register,  4th  June,  1814] 
Chicago. — Among  the  persons  who  have  recently  arrived  at 
this  place,  says  the  Plattsburg  [N.  Y.]  paper  of  the  21st  ult- 
imo, from  Quebec,  are:  James  Van  Horn,  Dyson  Dyer,  Joseph 
Knowles,  Joseph  Bowen,  Paul  Grummond,  Nathan  Edson,  Elias 
Mills,  James  Corbin,  Phelim  Corbin,  of  the  First  Regiment  of 
U.  S.  Infantry,  who  survived  the  massacre  at  Fort  Dearborn,  or 
Chicago,  011  the  15th  August,  18 12.  It  will  be  recollected  that  the 
commandant  at  Fort  Chicago,  Captain  Heald,  was  ordered  by  Gen- 
eral Hull  to  evacuate  the  fort  and  proceed  with  his  command  to 
Detroit;  that  having  proceeded  about  a  mile  and  a  half,  the  troops 
were  attacked  by  a  body  of  Indians,  to  whom  they  were  compelled 
to  capitulate. 

Captain  Heald,  in  his  report  of  this  affair,  dated  October  23d, 
1812,  says:     "Our  strength  was  fifty-four  regulars  and  twelve  niili- 


CONTEMPORANEOUS    REPORTS.  119 

tia,  out  of  which  twenty-six  regulars  and  all  the  militia,  with  two 
women  and  twelve  children,  were  killed  in  the  action. 

11  Lieut.  Linai  T.  Helm,  with  twenty-five  non-commissioned  offi- 
cers and  privates,  and  eleven  women  and  children,  were  prisoners 
when  we  separated."  Lieut.  Helm  was  ransomed.  Of  the  twenty- 
five  non-commissioned  officers  and  privates,  and  the  eleven  women 
and  children,  the  nine  persons  above  mentioned  are  believed  to  be 
the  only  survivors.  They  state  that  the  prisoners  who  were  not  put 
to  death  on  the  march  were  taken  to  the  Fox  River,  in  the  Indian 
territory,  where  they  were  distributed  among  the  Indians  as  serv- 
auts.  Those  who  survived  remained  in  this  situation  about  nine 
months,  during  which  time  they  were  allowed  scarcely  a  sufficiency 
of  sustenance  to  support  nature,  and  were  then  brought  to  Fort 
Chicago,  where  they  were  purchased  by  a  French  trader,  agreeable 
to  the  directions  of  General  Proctor,  and  sent  to  Amherstburg,  and 
from  thence  to  Quebec,  where  they  arrived  November  8th,  1813. 

John  Neads,  who  was  one  of  the  prisoners,  formerly  of  Virginia, 
died  among  the  Indians  between  the  15th  and  20th  of  January,  1813. 

Hugh  Logan,  an  Irishman,  was  tomahawked  and  put  to  death, 
be  not  being  able  to  walk  from  excessive  fatigue. 

August  Mott,  a  German,  was  killed  in  the  same  manner  for  the 
like  reason. 

A  man  by  the  name  of  Nelson  was  frozen  to  death  while  a  cap- 
tive with  the  Indians.     He  was  formerly  from  Maryland. 

A  child  of  Mrs.  Neads,  the  wife  of  John  Neads,  was  tied  to  a  tree 
to  prevent  its  following  and  crying  after  its  mother  for  victuals. 
Mrs.  Neads  perished  from  hunger  and  cold. 

The  officers  who  were  killed  on  the  15th  of  August  had  their 
heads  cut  off  and  their  hearts  taken  out  and  boiled  in  the  presence 
of  the  prisoners.  Eleven  children  were  massacred  and  scalped  in 
one  wagon. 

Mrs.  Corbin,  wife  of  Phelini  Corbin,  in  an  advanced  stage  of 
pregnancy,  was  tomahawked,  scalped,  cut  open,  and  had  the  child 
taken  out  and  its  head  cut  off. 

Turning  to  the  latest  muster-roll  of  tfte  force,  dated 
1 8 10,  we  identify  among  these  survivors  the  names  of 
Dyson  Dyer,  Nathan  Edson,  Paul  Grummow,  James  van 
Home,  James  Corbin  and  Phelim  Corbin.  Among  the 
perished,  August  Mott,  John  Neads  and  Hugh  Logan. 
To  this  sad  list  must  be  added  four  still  more  pitiable  vie- 


120 


THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 


tims — the  wife  and  unborn  child  of  Phelim  Corbin,  and 
the  unhappy  Mrs.  Neads,  to  whom  death  must  have  been 
welcome  after  seeing  her  little  one  ' '  tied  to  a  tree  to  keep 
it  from  following  her  and  crying  for  victuals." 

Mrs.  John  Kinzie,  in  a  sketch  of  the  life  of  her  hus- 
band (Chic.  Hist.  Society,  July  u,  1877.  Fergus'  Hist. 
Series  No.  10)  says: 

In  1816  the  Kinzie  family  returned  to  their  desolated  home  in 
Chicago.  The  bones  of  the  murdered  soldiers,  who  had  fallen  four 
years  before,  were  still  lying  unburied  where  they  had  fallen.    The 


THE  SECOND   BLOCK  HOUSE   IN  ITS  LAST  DAYS. 

troops  who  rebuilt  the  fort  collected  and  interred  these  remains. 
The  coffins  which  contained  them  were  deposited  near  the  bank  of 
the  river,  which  then  had  its  outlet  about  at  the  foot  of  Madison 
Street.  The  cutting  through  the  sand-bar  for  the  harbor  caused  the 
lake  to  encroach  and  wash  away  the  earth,  exposing  the  long  range 
of  ^ffins  and  their  contents,  which  were  afterward  cared  for  and 
reiuterred  by  the  civil  authorities. 

There  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  Mrs.  Kinzie  was 
mistaken  in  thinking  that  the  coffins  exposed  on  the  lake 


CONTEMPORANEOUS    REPORTS.  121 

shore  by  the  action  of  the  waves,  contained  the  bodies  of 
those  who  perished  in  the  massacre.  The  fort  burying- 
gronnd  certainly  was  at  the  place  indicated,  and  the  ex- 
posed coffins  doubtless  contained  the  bodies  of  those 
buried  in  that  ground;  but  that  does  not  include  the  mas- 
sacre victims.  Mr.  Fernando  Jones  believes  them  to  have 
been  buried  at  where  Seventeenth  Street,  extended, 
would  cross  Prairie  A. venue. 

A  letter  on  the  matter  (kindly  furnished  me  while  these 
pages  are  in  preparation)  reads  as  follows: 

Upon  my  arrival  in  Chicago,  in  the  spring  of  1835,  being-  fifteen 
years  of  age,  I  became  acquainted  with  a  number  of  Indian  and 
half-breed  boys,  as  well  as  older  persons,  and  visited  many  times 
the  location  of  the  Indian  massacre  of  1812.  The  spot  was  pointed 
out  by  some  who  wTere  children  at  the  time,  and  by  others  who  had 
been  informed  by  their  parents.  The  burial-place  where  the  victims 
were  interred  was  quite  distinct  at  that  time.  There  was  a  mound 
in  the  prairie  southwest  of  the  massacre-ground,  that  was  pointed 
out  as  the  grave  of  the  vidette,  or  soldier  in  advance  of  the  retreat- 
ing garrison. 

The  tradition  wras  that  the  soldier  ran  west  into  the  prairie, 
thinking  to  hide  in  the  tall  grass,  but  was  pursued  and  killed  and 
scalped  and  his  body  afterwTard  buried  by  friendly  half  breeds. 

In  the  summer  of  1836  a  number  of  youngsters,  accompanied  by 
some  young  Indians  and  half-breeds,  proceeded  to  examine  the 
lonely  hillock  in  the  plains.  The  turf  still  preserved  the  shape  of 
a  grave.  There  were  in  the  party  as  I  remember,  besides  1113  self, 
Pierre  Laframbois,  Alex  Beaubien,  Charles  Cleaver,  J.  Louis 
Hooker  and  John  C.  Haines.  After  digging  about  three  feet  into 
the  ground  we  unearthed  a  skeleton  surrounded  by  bits  of  woolen 
cloth,  pieces  of  leather,  brass  military  buttons  and  buckles  and  a 
brass  plate  with  U.  S.  upon  it.  We  became  convinced  that  this  was 
undeniably  the  grave  of  the  traditional  vidette,  and  reverently  re- 
turned the  remains  into  the  grave  where  they  had  lain  for  a  quarter 
of  a  century,  and  where  I  suppose  they  still  remain.  The  spot  was 
about  a  block  south  of  the  Calumet  Club-House,  near  the  S.  E.  cor- 
ner of  Indiana  Ave.  and  Twenty  first  Street.  I  kept  watch  of  the 
place  until  streets  were  laid  out  and  the  property  improved,  having 
resided  near  it  for  over  twenty-five  years 

Fernando  Jones. 


122  THE   CHICAGO    MASSA  JRE    OF    l8l2. 

No  remains  of  any  coffin  were  found,  a  fact  which 
would  indicate  a  battle-field  burial;  but  on  the  other 
hand,  it  seems  most  improbable  that  the  Indians  would 
have  left  belt-plate,  buttons  and  cloth  on  any  of  their 
victims. 


The  Indian  Problem  is  solved  at  last,  and  by  the  In- 
dians' own  and  only  means  for  the  solution  of  problems — 
the  cutting  of  the  knot.  It  has  been  a  long  struggle, 
marked  by  wrong  on  both  sides  and  by  shame  on  ours — 
theirs  was  not  capable  of  shame.  They  had  many  friends 
and  only  one  formidable  enemy — themselves. 

The  Americans  met  them  with  the  sword  in  one  hand 
and  the  olive  branch  in  the  other.  They  declined  the 
branch  and  defied  the  sword.  The  English  offered  them 
gifts  in  both  hands,  and  they  took  all  that  was  offered, 
rendering  in  exchange  services  disgraceful  to  the  more 
civilized  party  to  the  contract.  The  French  offered  them 
love,  and  won  theirs  in  return.  While  other  whites  held 
aloof,  the  gay  Frenchman  fraternized  with  them,  became 
one  with  them,  shared  their  lives  and  their  pursuits,  won 
their  religious  allegiance — nay,  more;  in  a  gentler  and 
more  irresistible  way  prevailed  over  them,  for  he  formed 
with  their  women  alliances  which  furnished  the  inferior 
race  a  hybrid,  partly  like  themselves,  but  superior,  and 
able  and  willing  to  be  their  leaders  against  the  more 
grasping,  less  loving  Americans.  These  hybrids  have, 
in  many  cases,  continued  the  race  on  its  enlightened  side, 
and  there  are  not  wanting  among  ourselves  splendid 
specimens  of  manhood  and  womanhood,  whose  fine  fig- 
ures, flashing  eyes,  and  strong,  grave  faces,  proclaim  the 
proud  possession  of  theblocd  of  the  only  really  ''first  cit- 
izens" of  our  democratic  republic. 

It  is  now  hard  to  trace  the  Indians  who  departed  hence 
in    1835,    fifty-eight  years  ago.     They  are  almost  "lost 


CONTEMPORANEOUS   REPORTS  123 

tribes."  The  report  for  1890  of  the  Commissioners  of 
Indian  Affairs,  gives  Pottowatomies  of  various  descrip- 
tions scattered  in  many  places.  This  same  is  true  of  the 
Ottawas  and  Chippewas. 

The  larger  part  of  the  Pottowatomies  (known  of  old  as 
the  "Woods  Band,"  in  contradistinction  to  the  "Prairie 
Band  ")  have  renounced  tribal  relations  and  are  known  as 
the  "Citizen  Band."  They  number  scarcely  two  thou- 
sand souls,  and  occupy  a  tract  nearly  thirty  miles  square 
(575,000  acres)  in  Oklahoma 

The  Commissioners'  report  says  but  little  about  them, 
giving  more  attention  to  the  "Prairie  Band,"  since  they 
are  still  a  tribe,  and  thus,  "wards  of  the  nation."  They 
number  only  432,  and  hold  in  common  77,357  acres  in 
Kansas,  where  they  are  doing  fairly,  but  are  pestered  with 
the  dregs  of  the  "Citizen  Band,"  who  fall  back  011  the 
tribe  like  the  returned  prodigal — but  unrepentant,  and 
still  fit  company  only  for  the  husk-eating  swine. 

Of  the  "Citizen  Band,"  Special  Agent  Porter  says: 

"  The  Pottowatomies  are  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
thoroughly  tinctured  with  white  blood.  Nearly  all  of 
them  speak  English  and  read  and  write.  Some  of  them 
are  quite  wealthy,  being  good  farmers,  with  large  herds 
of  stock.  Their  morals  are  below  the  standard,  consider- 
ing their  advanced  state  as  a  civilized  people." 

This  is  not  high  praise  ;  still,  it  gives  hope  for  better 
things.  Peace  and  industry  coming  first,  civilization 
and  morality  will  follow.  The  savage  Indian  is  essen- 
tially a  being  of  the  past  (notwithstanding  the  survival 
of  a  few  wild  Apaches,  a  few  "ghost-dancers"  among 
the  Sioux,  and  some  other  exceptional  bodies)  and  he  is 
succeeded  by  the  truly  civilized  Indian  (of  whom  the 
Cherokees  are  a  splendid  example),  a  self-respecting, 
self  governing,  self-educating,  prosperous  human  being  ; 
not  particularly    different  from  the   frontiersman,  except 


124  THE   CHICAGO    MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

by  a  slight  and  diminishing  shade  of  color  and  by  the 
possession  of  the  best  characteristics  of  his  savage  ances- 
tors. It  may  perhaps  be  said  that  no  race  of  men  has 
ever  made  as  much  progress  in  five  generations  as  have 
the  "  civilized  Indians."  It  is  only  one  hundred  and 
sixty  years  since  d'Artaguiette,  Vinsenne,  the  Jesuit 
Senat,  and  young  St.  Ange,  son  of  the  French  comman- 
dant in  the  Illinois  country  (Fort  Chartres),  were  defeated 
in  the  Arkansas  country  and  were  burned  at  the  stake  by 
the  unconquered  Chickasaws  ,  who  were  "  amazed  to  see 
the  fortitude  with  which  white  men  could  die."  And 
now,  in  the  territory  adjoining  Arkansas  on  the  west,  the 
decendants  of  the  torturers  are  cultivating  farms,  main- 
taining governments,  courts,  schools  and  churches,  and 
in  short,  setting  an  example  worthy  to  be  followed  by 
many  who  have  been  "civilized"  from  the  time  ages 
back  of  the  year  1492;  when  the  innocent,  luckless  Hay- 
tians  learned  of  the  existence  of  the  unspeakable  Span- 
iards, in  cruelty  the  only  rivals  of  the  North  American 
aborigines. 

What  is  the  reason  for  the  intense  interest  and  curiosity 
which  clusters  about  this  story  of  violence  and  rapine,  of 
heroism,  anguish  and  death  ?  Other  massacres  have 
blotted  with  blood  the  pages  of  American  history.  From 
Deerfield  and  Schenectady  to  the  Little  Bighorn,  our  de- 
voted bands  have  perished  at  the  hands  of  the  American 
Indian;  and  each  dark  day  is  suffered  to  rest  as  a  mere  tra- 
dition, buried  in  the  half- forgotten  folk-lore  of  its  time  and 
place.  Why  does  the  Fort  Dearborn  massacre,  involving 
only  a  few  score  souls,  hold  a  different  rank  in  our  hearts  ? 

It  is  because  the  footsteps  of  millions  are  passing  over 
the  spot  where  it  all  happened  ;  steamers  are  churning 
its  peaceful  waters  ;  bells  and  steam-whistles  are  rending 
the  air  that   bore   away  the  sound  of  gun-shots,    war- 


CONTEMPORANEOUS    REPORTS. 


12? 


-»'    - 


HtSBUtlOmC  DCCUPIE&  THE  SIT 
PDRT  DE*J$0ftN  V*  IC*  EXTEND* 

ACROSS  MfCH.  AVE.  A*D  BBIfcWHAT 

•  JWVER  AS  IT  NOW  IS, 
TH!  rORT  WAS  BUILT  IN  1853  $t  4.  FORCING 

•  OUR  OUTMOST  DEFENSC 
BY  ORDER  OF  GEN  hu,    IT  WAS  mCVATED  AUG. 

M  'fcR  ITa  STORES  AMD  PROVISIONS 
KAD  BEEN  EHBTRBtfTfB  kmHO  THE  INDIANS. 
VEP  *  SOON  AFTER  THE  INDIANS  ATTACKED  AND 
MASSACRED  ABOUT  FFTO  OF  THE  TROOPS  AND 
/,  NUMBER  W  bfttZEHS  INCLUOINC  WOHEN  ANO 
I   CHILDREN  AND  NEXT  CAY  BURNED  THE  FORT. 
M  JStfe'.T  WAS  REBUILT.  BUT  AFTER  THf  BUCK,* 
HAVtt^  W&  IT  ^ENf  !»*to  UUPUAL  D!SUSE  fchO 
[H  HAT  »57  ¥*l  ABM  -Hr ..  P  <  THS  ARMY  BUT 
WAiDCCuPiECrt  VftltfDUS  aWEWWEHTOFftCEftl 
HUH*?  ABE*  II  "f«AS  TCRN  DDW  I^CEPTIRC  A 
SJNCIE  BUllDJHC.fcnlCh  STUOO  UFCN  TWS  ST>. 

4  mi  the  creat  rmr  qN$t.  »,»7t 

AT  THE  SUCtESTtCN  OF  TV*  CtKCACO  HiSTCRlCAV 

50CIE1Y  THIS  TABLE'  WAS  IKfCTEOBY 
I   HOV.  I860  WM.HCYT. 


BLOCK  HOUSE  TABLET. 


126-  TH^   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    I&I2. 

whoops  and  dying  cries;  and  the  sculptors'  art  is  puttingin- 
to  immortal  bronze  the  memory  of  its  incidents.  Thus  does 
it  gain  an  ex  post  facto  importance  and  a  posthumous  fame. 

Among  the  world's  great  cities,  Chicago  should  be  the 
one  most  thoroughly  recorded.  No  other  that  counts  her 
denizens  by  the  million  has  among  them  those  born  before 
her  annals  fairly  began.  No  other  has  had  such  startling 
vicissitudes.  Laid  low  by  slaughter  in  her  infancy  and 
by  fire  in  her  youth,  she  has  climbed  with  bounding  steps, 
upward  and  onward.  Toiling,  enduring,  laughing,  pros- 
pering, exulting  ;  she  has  taken  each  scourge  as  a  fillip 
to  her  energy,  each  spur  as  a  stimulus  to  her  courage. 
Hers  is  the  enthusiasm  of  youth  with  the  strength  of 
maturity. 

The  early  days  of  Paris  and  London  are  lost  in  half- 
mythical  shadow.  Even  if  told,  their  incidents  might 
fail  to  match  in  interest  those  which  have  befallen  their 
young  sister.  So  much  the  more  zealously  should  we 
who  love  this  youthful  aspirant  for  fame,  take  care  that 
the  romance  of  her  childhood  shall  be  preserved  and 
handed  down  to  posterity. 

The  spirited  figure  of  La  Salle  (given  by  Lambert  Tree) 
and  Martin  Ryerson's  Indian  group,  are  both  fine  mem- 
orials of  the  dawn  of  things  in  the  North- West.  EH 
Bates's  matchless  statue  of  Lincoln  is  devoted  to  a  page 
in  the  history  of  the  whole  Union.  Now  comes  Chicago's 
latest  treasure,  the  magnificent  group  commemorating 
the  massacre  of  1S12  ;  a  purely  civic  wrork,  to  keep  in  the 
minds  of  Chicago's  citizens,  for  untold  generations,  the 
romance  and  reality  of  her  struggling  infancy. 

Honor  to  the  men  who,  in  the  intense  pressure  of  the 
present,  still  have  thoughts  for  the  past  and  the  future. 


At  the  unveiling,  (1881)   of  the  Block-House  Tablet 
(designed  by  the  Chicago  Historical  Society)  set  by  Will- 


CONTEMPORANEOUS   REPORTS. 


127 


iam  M.  Hoyt  in  the  north  wall  of  his  warehouse,  facing 
Rush  Street  Bridge  from  the  south,  Mr.  Eugene  Hall 
read  some  stanzas  of  original  verse  so  musical,  so  poetic 
and  so  apt  for  the  occasion,  that  I  venture  (with  his  per- 
mission) to  repeat  them  here,  as  a  finish  to  our  story. 


BEAUBIEN    FIDDLE    AND   CALUMET, 

IN   POSSESSION   OF   THE   CALUMET  CLUB. 


FORT  DEARBORN, 
CHICAGO, 

1881. 


Here,  where  the  savage  war-whoop  once  resounded, 
Where  council  fires  burned  brightly  years  ago, 
Where  the  red  Indian  from  his  covert  bounded 
To  scalp  his  pale-faced  foe  : 


128  THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

Here,  where  grey  badgers  had  their  haunts  and  burrows, 
Where  wild  wolves  howled  and  prowled  in  midnight  bands, 
Where  frontier  farmers  turned  the  virgin  furrows, 
Our  splendid  city  stands. 

Here,  where  brave  men  and  helpless  women  perished, 
Here,  where  in  unknown  graves  their  forms  decay ; 
This  marble,  that  their  memory  may  be  cherished, 
We  consecrate  today. 

No  more  the  farm-boy's  call,  or  lowing  cattle, 
Frighten  the  timid  wild  fowl  from  the  slough  : 
The  noisy  trucks  and  wagons  roll  and  rattle 
O'er  miles  of  pavement  now. 

Now  are  our  senses  startled  and  confounded, 
By  screaming  whistle  and  by  clanging  bell, 
Where  Beaubien's   merry  fiddle  once  resounded 
When  summer  twilight  fell. 

Here  stood  the  fort  with  palisades  about  it, 
With  low  log  block-house  in  those  early  hours  ; 
The  prairie  fair  extended  far  without  it, 
Blooming  with  fragrant  flowers. 

About  this  spot  the  buildings  quickly  clustered  ; 
The  logs  decayed,  the  palisade  went  down. 
Here  the  resistless  Western  spirit  mustered 
And  built  this  wondrous  town. 

Here  from  the  trackless  plain  its  structures  started, 
And  one  by  one,  in  splendor  rose  to  view. 
The  white  ships  went  and  came,  the  years  departed, 
And  still  she  grandly  grew. 

Till  one  wild  night,  a  night  each  man  remembers, 
When  round  her  homes  the  red  fire  leaped  and  curled, 
The  sky  was  filled  with  flame  and  flying  embers, 
That  swept  them  from  the  world. 

Men  said  :   "  Chicago's  bright  career  is  ended  !  " 
As  by  the  smouldering  stones  they  chanced  to  go, 
While  the  wide  world  its  love  and  pity  blended, 
To  help  us  in  our  woe. 


CONTEMPORANEOUS   REPORTS. 


129 


O  where  was  ever  human  goodness  greater? 
Man's  love  for  man  was  never  more  sublime. 
On  the  eternal  scroll  of  our  Creator 
'Tis  written  for  all  time. 

Chicago  lives,  and  many  a  lofty  steeple 
Looks  down  today  upon  this  western  plain  ; 
The  tireless  hands  of  her  unconquered  people 
Have  reared  her  walls  again. 

L,ong  may  she  live  and  grow  in  wealth  and  beauty, 
And  may  her  children  be,  in  coming  years, 
True  to  their  trust  and  faithful  in  their  duty 
As  her  brave  pioneers. 


APPENDIX. 

A— John  Baptists  Points  de  Saibi^b. 

B— Fort  Dearborn  in  the  War  Department, 

C— The  Whittier  Family. 

D— The  Kinzie  Family. 

E— The  Wells  and  Heald  Families. 

F— The  Bones  of  John  Lalime. 

G— Letters  from  a.  H.  Edwards. 

H— Billy  Caldwell,  "The  Sauganash." 

I— Indian  War  Dance. 

K— The  Bronze  Memorial  Group. 


131 


APPENDIX   A. 


JEAN   BAPTISTK   POINTE   DE  SAIBLE,    THE   HAYTIAN    NEGRO  WHO 
WAS    THE     FIRST     "WHITE     MAN"     TO     SETTLE     IN     CHICAGO 

(1776-77). 


COCK-CROW. 


OT  IN  JEST,  but  in 
grave,  sober  earnest, 
the  Indians  used  to  say 
that  "the  first  white 
man  in  Chicago  was  a 
nigger."  In  their  view, 
all  non  -  Indians  were 
"whites,"  the  adject- 
ive having  to  them  only 
a  racial  significance. 
Then,  too  the  aborigines  had  no  jests — no  harmless  ones. 
Peering  into  the  dim  past  for  early  items  concerning 
what  is  now  Chicago,  one  comes  first'  to  the  compara- 
tively clear  (though  positively  scanty)  records  of  the 
French — La  Salle,  Marquette,  Tonti,  Hennepin,  St.  Cosme 
and  their  bold  associates — wTho  came  in  by  way  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  in  the  seventeenth  century — 1672  to  1700. 

From  that  time  there  occurs  a  great  blank.  Scarcely 
a  ray  of  light  or  word  of  intelligence  pierces  the  deep 
gloom  for  just  one  hundred  years.  Detroit,  Mackinaw, 
Lake  Superior,  Green  Bay,  Fort  Duquesne  and  St.  Louis 
are  kept  in  view.  Even  Kaskasia  and  Fort  Chartres,  both 
in  Illinois  territory,  are  on  record;  a  circumstance  due  to 
the  fact,  not  generally  known,  that  they  were  points  of 
importance  in  John  Law's  famous  Mississippi  scheme. 
"Rut  Chicago  was  almost  as  though  it  had  sunk  below  the 
waves  of  Lake  Michigan  when  La  Salle,  Marquette  and 
St.  Cosme  bade  it  good-bye. 

133 


134  THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

Suddenly,  in  1778,  in  the  midst  of  the  Revolutionary 
War,  the  name  reappears  in  literature  in  a  curious  way. 
It  comes  to  us  through  a  poetical  allusion  from  the  pen  of 
Colonel  Arent  Schuyler 
de  Peyster,  command- 
ant at  Michilimackinac. 
De  Peyster,  as  his  name 
suggests,  was  a  New 
Yorker  of  the  ancient 
Dutch  stock.  He  en- 
tered the  English  army 
and  in  1757  was  com- 
missioned lieutenant  in 
the  Eighth,  or  King's 
Regiment  of  Foot.  Nec- 
essarily he  was  and  con- 
tinued to  be  a  royalist, 
and  when  war  broke 
out  served  King  George 
against  Gen.  George. 

Fortunately  for  our 
knowledge  of  the  West 
during  Revolutionary 
times,  Colonel  de  Peyster  was  a  scholar  and  a  gentleman 
as  well  a  soldier  and  a  Tory  He  left  a  volume  of  "Mis- 
cellanies," which  was  first  published  (18 13)  in  Dumfries, 
Scotland,  whither  the  old  soldier  retired  when  the  bad 
cause  for  which  he  made  a  good  fight  came  to  a  dis- 
astrous end  by  the  peace  of  Paris  in  1783.*  An  edition, 
edited  by  General  J.  Watts  de  Peyster,  of  Yonkers,  was 
published  in  1888. 


ROBERT  CAVELIER,  SIEUR  DE   LA  SALLE. 


*After  his  return  to  Scotland,  Colonel  de  Peyster  commanded  the  "fen- 
cibles"  (militia),  of  which  Robert  Burns  was  a  member,  and  it  was  in  his  honor 
that  the  poet  wrote  his  poem,  "  To  Colonel  de  Peyster,"  beginning: 

'My  honored  Colonel,  deep  I  feel 
Your  interest  in  the  poets'  we^l." 

nd  ending,  after  several  stanzas: 

'But  lest  you  think  I  am  uncivil 
To  plague  you  with  this  draunting  drivel, 
Abjuring  a   intentions  evil, 

I  quat  my  pen : 
The  Lord  preserve  us  frae  the  devil, 
Amen  !    Amen  !" 


APPKNDIX    A:    DE  SAIBLE. 


135 


Colonel  de  Peyster*  s  post  of  loyal  service  was  Macki- 
naw, whither,  as  the  "Miscellanies"  tell  us,  he  was  sent 
early  in  1774,  "to  command  the  post,  with  the  painful 
task  of  superintending  the  lake  Indians."  "Canoes  ar- 
rived with  passes  signed  by  the  American  General  Woos- 
ter,  and  Dr.  Benjamin  Franklin,  wherein  it  was  stipula- 
ted that  those  traders  should  not  afford  any  succor  what- 
ever to  the  British  garrison." 

He  adds  that  "in  the  spring  following  they  [the  In- 
dians] were  sent  down  to  assist  General  Burgoine  in  his 
expedition  across   Lake  Champlaine" — an   entry  which 

recalls  the  fate  of 
poor  Jane  MeCrea, 
whose  death  at  the 
hands  of  the  Indi- 
ans, near  Saratoga, 
used  to  draw  tears 
from  our  childish 
eyes  in  the  good  old 
times  before  patri- 
otism was  no  more. 
In  that  expedi- 
tion they  seem  to 
have  done  no  valu- 
able service  to  King 
George  (except  the 
killing  of  Miss  Mc- 
Crea), and  on  their 
return  they  were 
assembled  at  Mack- 
inaw  for  the   pur- 

GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK  (LATE  IN  LIFE).  r     i  • 

pose  of  making  a 
diversion  in  favor  of  the  English  General  Hamilton, 
whom  George  Rogers  Clark,  our  paragon  of  Western 
soldiers,  had  defeated  already  (though  de  Peyster  did  not 
know  it)  and  sent  across  the  Alleghanies,  a  prisoner,  to 
Patrick  Henry,  Governor  of  Virginia. 

Now  comes  in  the  mention  of  Chicago.  De  Peyster 
made  a  speech  to  the  assembled  redskins,  which  speech 
he  next  day  turned  into  rude  rhyme  at  the  request  of  a 
fair   lady    whom    he   calls,    in    gallant    French   phrase, 


'Cyclopaedia  of  United  States  History. 
1881 .  by  Harper  &  Brothers.' 


-Copyright, 


136  THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

"une  chere  compagne  de  voyage."  The  poem  is  included 
in  the  ''Miscellanies."* 

The  entire  versified  speech  is  too  long  to  quote,  inter- 
esting though  it  be  as  an  unstudied  sketch  of  things  of 
that  time  and  place.  Any  one  wishing  to  know  more  of 
it  can  find  it  in  the  "Miscellanies,"  of  which  a  copy 
should  be  easily  found  in  any  large  library. 

SPEECH  TO  THE  WESTERN  INDIANS. 

Great  chiefs,  convened  at  my  desire 

To  kindle  up  this  council-fire, 

Which,  with  ascending  smoke  shall  burn, 

Till  you  from  war  once  more  return 

To  lay  the  axe  in  earth  so  deep 

That  nothing  shall  disturb  its  sleep. 

I  know  you  have  been  told  by  Clark 
His  riflemen  ne'er  miss  the  mark; 
In  vain  you  hide  behind  a  tree 
If  they  your  finger-tip  can  see. 
The  instant  they  have  got  their  aim 
Enrolls  you  on  the  list  of  lame. 

But  then,  my  sons,  this  boaster's  rifles, 
To  those  I  have  in  store  are  trifles: 
If  you  but  make  the  tree  your  mark 
The  ball  will  twirl  beneath  the  bark, 
Till  it  one-half  the  circle  find, 
Then  out  and  kill  the  man  behind. 

Clark  says,  with  Louis  in  alliance 
He  sets  your  father  at  defiance; 
That  he,  too,  hopes,  ere  long,  to  gain 
Assistance  from  the  King  of  Spain. 

Suppose,  awhile,  his  threats  prove  true, 
My  children,  what  becomes  of  you  ? 
Your  sons,  your  daughters  and  your  wives, 
Must  they  be  hacked  by  their  big  knives  ? 
Clark,  soon  repulsed,  wTill  ne'er  return, 
While  your  war-fire  thus  clear  doth  burn. 

*The  lady  was  his  wife.  The  marriage  was  childless,  and  General  J.  Watts 
de  Peyster  (1892)  says  in  a  private  note:  She  was  c/ihre  indeed  to  de  P*s  lineal 
heirs,  for  her  cajolery  of  the  Colonel  transferred  his  property  from  his  nephew, 
protege  and  namesake,  Captain  Arent  Schuyler  de  Peyster,  to  her  own  people, 
McMurdo's,  or  whatever  was  the  name  of  her  nephews."  General  de  Peyster 
says  that  he  himself  got  the  story  from  Captain  Arent  Schuyler  de  Peyster,  the 
namesake  in  question,  and  the  discoverer  of  the  "  De  Peyster  Islands,"  in  the 
Pacific  Ocean. 


APPENDIX    A:    DE  SAIBLE.  137 

At  Fort  St.  Joseph  and  the  Post, 
Go,  lay  in  ambush  for  his  host, 
While  I  send  round  Lake  Michigan 
And  raise  the  warriors  to  a  man, 
Who,  on  their  way  to  get  to  you, 
vShall  take  a  peep  at  Eschikagou.* 

Those  runagates  at  Milwackie 
Must  now  perforce  with  you  agree. 
Sly  Siggernaak  and  Naakewoin 
Must  with  Langlade  their  forces  join, 
Or  he  will  send  them,  tout  au  diable 
As  he  did  Baptiste  Pointe  de  Saible.f 

*A  river  and  fort  at  the  head  of  Iyake  Michigan. 

tA  handsome  negro,  well  educated  and  settled  in   Chicago,  but  much  in  the 
interest  of  the  French. 


So  steps  upon  the  stage  of  history  the  earliest  non- 
Indian  settler  of  Chicago  ;  a  man  who  built,  at  about  the 
time  of  our  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  house  which 
was  standing  within  the  memory  of  hundreds  of  Chica- 
goans  of  1892 — the  well-known  "  Kinzie  Mansion," 
that  faced  the  north  bank  of  the  river  where  Pine  Street 
now  ends. 

Mrs.  John  H.  Kinzie,  in  her  delightful  book,  "Wau- 
Bun,  the  Early  day  in  the  North- West,"  calls  him  "Pointe 
au  Sable, "  and  says  he  was  a  native  of  San  Domingo,  and 
came  from  that  island  with  a  friend  named  Glamorgan; 
who  had  obtained  large  Spanish  grants  in  or  about  St. 
Louis.  She  adds  that  Jean  Baptiste  sold  his  Chicago 
establishment  to  a  French  trader  named  Le  Mai,  and  went 
back  to  Peoria  where  his  friend  Glamorgan  was  living, 
and  died  under  his  roof,  presumably  about  1800.  From 
Le  Mai,  the  property  passed  in  1803,  to  John  Kinzie,  the 
real  pioneer  of  Chicago. 

Hispaniola  (Hayti  and  San  Domingo)  was  discovered 
and  even  colonized,  by  Columbus,  in  1492.  It  had  then 
some  two  million  inhabitants,  living  like  our  first  parents 
in  Eden  (Genesis  I,  27),  but  the  unspeakable  cruelty  of 
the  Spaniards  so  depopulated  the  splendid  and  happy 
island,  that  in  1517 — twenty-five  years  later — it  was 
requisite  to  import  negro  slaves  to  carry  on  the  mining, 
and  to-day  not  one  soul  of  the  original  race  survives. 

The  French  began  to  come  in  1630,  and  by  the  treaty 
of  Ryswick  [1697]  the  island  was  divided  between  France 


138  THE    CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

and  Spain.  Then  began  the  greatness  of  the  Haytiati 
negro,  which  culminated  in  Toussaint  L'Ouverture,  lib- 
erator of  his  race  from  French  slavery  and  his  land  from 
French  domain;  and  later,  victim  to  Napoleon's  perfidy. 
Under  the  French  rule  many  free  negroes  were  educated 
in  France,  very  probably  Baptiste  Pointe  de  Saible  among 
the  rest.  At  any  rate  he  was  of  the  adventurous  spirit 
which  would  rather  be  first  in  a  new  sphere  than  last  in 
an  old,  and  so,  with  Glamorgan,  he  came  over  to  Mobile 
or  New  Orleans.  Then  (probably  on  one  of  John  Law's 
"  Compagnie  de  1' Occident  "  bateaux)  he  came  up  the 
Mississippi  to  Kaskaskia,  Cahokia,  St.  Louis,  and  at  last 
to  Peoria,  on  the  Illinois,  where  he  left  Glamorgan,  and 
pushed  on  to  the  Pottowatomie  outposts  where  we  find 
him  in  1778,  the  object  of  Colonel  de  Peyster's  admiring 
dislike. 

Edward  G.  Mason,  in  an  address  before  the  Historical 
society,  givTes  a  tradition  in  regard  to  Pointe  de  Saible's 
welcome  on  Chicago  soil,  which  tradition  appears  in 
"  Early  Western  Days,"  a  volume  published  by  John  T. 
Kingston,  formerly  a  state  senator  of  Wisconsin.  It  runs 
thus  :  An  Indian  living  south  of  the  Portage  River — 
now  called  the  Chicago — being  out  hunting,  suddenly 
came  upon  a  strange  object,  half  hidden  by  the  under- 
brush. It  was  a  black  face  with  white  eyes  and  woolly 
hair !  (Probably  no  Indian  of  his  tribe  had  ever  seen  a 
negro.)  After  gazing  at  the  novel  sight  awhile,  he 
grunted,  "Ugh  !  Mucketewees  !  "  (black  meat.)  He  cap- 
tured the  odd  animal  and  carried  him  to  the  village, 
whither  came  the  Indians  from  far  and  near  to  gaze,  to 
wonder, .and  to  speculate.  Fortunately  for  Baptiste,  for 
Chicago  and  for  history,  the  consensus  of  opinion  called 
it  "bad  meat,"  and  so  the  creature's  life  was  spared. 

Shaubena,  a  chief  of  the  Pottowatomies,  was  in  and 
about  Chicago  long  after  their  war  dance  of  1836.  He 
had  seen  Pointe  de  Saible,  but  unfortunately  his 
knowledge  concerning  him  is  not  on  record.  Mr.  Mason 
says  regretfully : 

In  1855,  at  the  old  Wells  Street  station,  I  saw  old  Shaubena 
wearing  moccasins,  leggins,  coat  and  plug  hat  with  colored  strings 
tied  around  it.  He  was  gazing  with  great  delight  at  the  Galena 
Railway  engine,  named  for  him,  and  calling  the  attention  of  the 
people  on  the  platform  to  it.  He  doubtless  thought  that  a  much 
more  wonderful  sight  than  old  Jean  Baptiste. 


APPENDIX   A:    DE  SAIBLE. 


139 


One  other  mention  of  Pointe  de  Saible  is  thrown  up 
from  the  almost  barren  shore  of  Western  history.  The 
third  volume  of  the  Wisconsin  Historical  Society's  col- 
lection contains  certain    "Recollections"  of  Augustin 


/m 


SHAT'BENA    IN    OLD    AGE.      (ABOUT    1856.) 

Grignon  (a  grand-son  of  Sieur  Charles  de  Langlade,  who 
became  the  first  permanent  white  settler  of  Wisconsin 
about  1735,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  is  named  by  de  Pey- 
ster  in  his  verses,  among  which  "Recollections"  occurs 
the  following  precious  bit: 

"  At  a  very  early  period  there  was  a  negro  who  lived 
here  (Chicago)  named  Baptiste  Pointe  de  Saible.  My 
brother,  Perish  Grignon,  visited  Chicago  about  1794  and 
told  me  that  Pointe  de  Saible  was  a  large  man,  that  he 
had  a  commission  for  some  office,  but  for  what  particular 
office  or  for  what  government  I  cannot  now  recollect. 
He  was  a  trader,  pretty  wealthy,  and  drank  freely.  I  do 
not  know  what  became  of  him." 

With  these  bits  of  chance  allusion — touches  here  and 
there — we  get  a  quite  distinct  impression  of  the  lonely 
Baptiste.  His  origin  shows  possibility  of  greatness,  for 
it  was  the  same  with  that  of  Francois  Dominique  Tous- 


140  THE)   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

saint,  surnamed  l'Ouverture.  Like  him,  he  was  a  French 
West-Indian  mulatto.  He  was  large,  handsome,  weli- 
edueated  and  adventurous,  traits  which  mark  pretty 
clearly  his  migrations  and  his  fortunes.  Neither  in  Mobile, 
New  Orleans,  Kaskaskia,  nor  St.  Louis  could  he  probably 
feel  at  home,  for  at  each  of  these  places  nigritude  was 
associated  with  servitude.  Among  the  Peoria  Indians 
he  probably  found  scanty  elbow-room,  especially  if  his 
friend  and  rival  trader,  Glamorgan,  was,  as  his  name 
implies,  of  Welsh  blood — a  race  which  gleans  close,  and 
thrives  where  others  starve. 

Not  unnaturally  would  he,  as  tradition  suggests, 
aspire  to  headship  of  the  great  tribe  of  Pottowatomies, 
for  he  knew  how  vastly  superior  he  was  to  the  best  of 
them;  and  quite  as  naturally  would  he  fail,  seeing  that 
the  red  strain  of  blood  and  the  black  have  even  less  in 
common  than  has  each  with  the  white.  At  the  same  time, 
considering  the  state  of  domestic  relations  at  that  time 
and  place,  we  may  be  very  sure  that  he  did  not  fail  to 
"  take  some  savage  woman  " — one  or  more — to  rear  his 
dusky  race  in  large  numbers  and  much  rude,  half-breed 
gaiety  and  contentment. 

As  to  his  office,  one  would  like  greatly  to  know  some- 
thing about  it,  and  is  prone  to  wish  that  somebody  would 
look  it  up — in  the  general  government  archives,  or  those 
of  the  North-West  Territory,  which  had  been  established 
in  1788,  General  St.  Glair  being  its  first  governor,  and 
Cincinnati  (Losantiville)  its  capital.  Why  should  it  not 
have  been  under  Harrison  and  Wells  ?  It  would  scarcely 
have  been  an  English  office  in  view  of  the  unpleasant 
allusion  by  de  Peyster,  though  the  English  maintained 
emissaries  hereabouts — fomenters  of  discontent — away  on 
almost  to  the  war  of  18 12.  Still,  it  might  be  worth  while 
to  try  the  Canadian  records.  Barring  swell  a  discovery, 
it  seems  probable  that  the  last  word  has  been  written 
about  him. 

Jean  Baptiste's  name  "  Pointe  de  Saible  "  (or  Sable) 
might  be  suspected  of  being  a  description  of  his  residence 
rather  than  an  inheritance  from  his  forefathers  ,  for  the 
cabin  of  squared  logs,  so  early  built  and  so  lately  des- 
troyed, stood  at  the  head  of  the  great  sand-point  which  of 
old  interrupted  the  course  of  the  Chicago  river  lakeward, 


APPENDIX   A:    DK  SAIBLE. 


141 


and  turned  it  south  for  about  half  a  mile  to  where  it 
flowed  over  a  long,  fordable,  narrow  bar  formed  by  the 
ceaseless  sandstream  that  moves  from  north  to  south 
along  the  western  shore  of  Lake  Michigan.  But  the 
records  and  traditions  are  old  enough  and  exact  enough 
to  uphold  the  name  as  a  patronymic,  and  leave  the  place 
as  a  mere  coincidence.  One  might  almost  as  easily  trace 
it  to  his  lack  of  grit  and  perseverance,  seeing  that  he  put 
his  hand  to  the  plow  and  looked  back  ;  that  he  came  to 
Chicago  in  hope  and  moved  away  in  despair  ;  that  having 
a  "homestead  location"  he  did  not  stay  and  "prove 
up;"  that,  owning,  by  occupation,  a  thousand  million 
dollars  worth  of  real  estate,  he  sold  it  for  a  song  instead 
of  waiting  for  a  "boom."  Poi?it  de  sable — "no  sand." 
The  two  other  characteristics  of  Chicago's  first  mer- 
chant-prince, which  are  preserved  for  us  by  lucky  chance, 
are  that  he  was  "  pretty  wealthy"  and  that  he  "drank 
freely."  Only  one  of  these  traits  has  come  down  to  his 
successors  of  a  century  later.  [From  "Liber  Scripto- 
rum,"  published  by  the  Authors'  Club,  New  York.] 

Joseph  Kirkland. 


CHICAGO  RIVER.      JUNCTION  OF  NORTH  AND   SOUTH  BRANCHES   (1830). 


142 


APPENDIX  B. 


FORT   DEARBORN    RECORDS   AT   WASHINGTON. 


r\R  Department  records,   back 
of  the   war  of  1812,   are  few 
and  poor ;  partly,   no  doubt, 
for  the  reason  that  during  that 
short  struggle  a  British  force, 
sailing  up  the  Potomac,  seized 
upon  the  defenceless  little  city  of 
Washington  and  burned  its  public 
buildings    with    their     contents. 
The  Hon.   Robert  Lincoln,  Secre- 
tary   of  War    (under    President 
Garfield)  at  the  time  of  unveiling 
the  Block  House  Tablet,  May  21, 
1 88 1,     kindly   furnished    to    Mr. 
Wentworth    copies    of  all    docu- 
ments  on    file    relating  to    Fort 
Dearborn  and  its  garrison.     (Fer- 
gus' Hist.,  Series  No.  16.) 


Extract  from  a  letter  written  June  28,  1804,  by  General 
Henry  Dearborn,  Secretary  of  War  under  President  Jef- 
ferson : 

Being  of  opinion  that,  for  the  general  defence  of  our  country, 
we  ought  not  to  rely  upon  fortifications,  but  on  men  and  steel ;  and 
that  works  calculated  for  resisting  batteries  of  cannon  are  neces- 
sary only  for  our  principal  seaports,  I  cannot  conceive  it  useful  or 
expedient  to  construct  expensive  works  for  our  interior  military 
posts,  especially  such  as  are  intended  merely  to  hold  the  Indians  in 
check.  I  have  therefore  directed  stockade  works  aided  by  block- 
houses to  be  erected  at  Vincennes,  at  Chikago,  at  or  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Miami  of  the  lakes,  and  at  Kaskaskia,  in  conformity  with 
the  sketch  herewith  enclosed,  each  calculated  for  a  full  company  ; 
the  block-houses  to  be  constructed  of  timber  slightly  hewed,  and 
of  the  most  durable  kind  to  be  obtained  at  the  respective  places  ; 
the  magazines  for  powder  to  be  of  brick,  of  a  conic  figure,  each 
capable  of  receiving  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  barrels  of  powder. 
Establishments  of  the  kind  here  proposed  will,  I  presume,  be  nec- 

143 


144  THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

essary  for  each  of  the  military  posts  in  Upper  and  Lower  Louisiana, 
New  Orleans  and  its  immediate  dependencies  excepted.  I  will 
thank  you  to  examine  the  enclosed  sketch,  and  to  give  me  your 
opinion  on  the  dimensions  and  other  proposed  arrangements.  You 
will  observe  the  block-houses  are  to  be  so  placed  as  to  scour  from 
the  upper  and  lower  stories  the  whole  of  the  lines.  The  back  part 
of  the  barracks  are  to  have  port-holes  which  can  be  opened  when 
necessary  for  the  use  of  musketry  for  annoying  an  enem\\ 

It  will,  I  presume,   be  proper  ultimately  to  extend  pallisades 
round  the  block-houses. 


Statement  compiled  from  the  Records  of  the  Adjutant 
General's  office  in  the  case  of  Fort  Dearborn,  with  copies 
of  orders  : 

Fort  Dearborn,  situated  at  Chicago,  111.,  within  a  few  yards  of 
Lake  Michigan.  Latitude  410  5i/  North  ;  Longitude  870  I5/  West. 
Post  established  by  the  United  States  forces  in  1804.  (From  1804-12 
no  records  are  on  file.) 

August  15th,  181 2,  the  garrison  having  evacuated  the  post  and 
were  en  route  for  Ft.  Wayne,  under  the  command  of  Captain 
Nathan  Heald,  1st  U.  S.  Infantry,  composed  of  54  Regular  In- 
fantry, 12  Militia  men,  and  one  interpreter,  was  attacked  by 
Indians  to  the  number  of  between  400  and  500,  of  whom  15  were 
killed.  Those  of  the  garrison  killed  were  Ensign  George  Ronan, 
1st  Infantry,  Dr.  Isaac  Van  Voorhis,  Captain  Wells,  Interpreter, 
24  enlisted  men,  U  S.  Infantry,  and  12  Militia-men  ;  2  women  and 
12  children  were  also  killed.  The  wounded  were  Captain  Nathan 
Heald  and  Mrs.  Heald.  None  others  reported.  The  next  day, 
August  16th,  1812,  the  post  was  destroyed  by  the  Indians.  Reoc- 
cupied  about  June  1816,  Capt.  Hezekiah  Bradley,  3rd  Infantry, 
commanding.  The  troops  continued  in  occupation  until  October, 
1823,  when  the  post  was  evacuated  and  left  in  charge  of  the  Indian 
agent  ;  It  was  reoccupied  Oct.  3rd,  1828. 

Capt.  Hezekiah  Bradley,  3rd  Infantry,  commanded  the  post 
from  June  1816,  to  May  1817  ,  Brevet  Major  D.  Baker  to  June  1820; 
Captain  Hezekiah  Bradley,  3rd  Infantry,  to  January  182 1  ,  Major 
Alex  Cummings,  3rd  Infantry,  to  October,  182 1  ;  Lieut.  Col.  J. 
McNeal,  3rd  Infantry,  to  July  1823  ;  Captain  John  Greene,  3rd  In- 
fantry, to  October,  1823  ;  post  not  garrisoned  from  October  1823,  to 
October  1828.     No  returns  of  post  on  file  prior  to  1828. 

Copies  of  Orders, 
order  no.  35. 
Adjutant  General's  Office,  Washington,  27  May,  1823. 
The  Major-General    commanding  the   army   directs   that   Fort 
Dearborn,  Chicago,  be  evacuated,  and  that  the  garrison  thereof  be 
withdrawn  to  the  headquarters  of  the  3rd  regiment  of  Infantry. 

One  company  of  the  3rd  regiment  of  Infantry  will  proceed  to 
Mackinac  and  relieve  the  company  of  artillery  now  stationed  there, 
which,  with  the  company  cf  artillery  at  Fort  Shelby,  Detroit,  will 
be  withdrawn  and  ordered  to  the  harbor  of  New  York. 


APPENDIX  B:    FORT  DEARBORN  RECORDS.  145 

The  commanding  General  of  the  Eastern  department,  will  give 
the  necessary  orders  for  carrying  these  movements  into  effect,  as 
well  as  for  the  security  of  the  public  property  at  Forts  Dearborn 
and  Shelby. 

By  order  of  Major-General  Brown. 

(Signed)  Chas.  J.  Nourse,   AcVg  Adjutant-General. 

order  no.  44. 
Adjutant-General's  Office,  Washington,  19  August,  1828. 
(Extract.)     In  conformity  with  the  directions  of  the  Secretary 
of  War,  the  following  movements  of  the  troops  will  be  made. 

Two  companies  of  the  5th  regiment  of  Infantry  to  reoccupy 
Fort  Dearborn,  at  the  head  of  Lake  Michigan  ;  the  remaining 
eight  companies  to  proceed  by  the  way  of  the  Wisconsin  and  Fox 
rivers  to  Fort  Howard,  Green  Bay,  where  the  headquarters  of  the 
regiment  will  be  established. 

Four  Co's  of  the  Reg't  to,constitute  the  garrison  of  Fort  Howard; 
two  Co's  for  the  garrkon  of  Michilimackinac,  and  two  for  that  of 
Fort  Brady. 

4.  The  Quartermaster-General's  department  to  furnish  the 
necessary  transportation  and  supplies  for  the  movement  and  ac- 
comodation of  the  troops. 

The  subsistauce  department  to  furnish  the  necessary  supplies  of 
provisions. 

The  Surgeon -General  to  supply  medical  officers  and  suitable 
hospital  supplies  for  the  posts  to  be  established  and  reoccupied. 

5.  The  Commanding  Generals  of  the  Eastern  and  Western 
departments  are  respectively  charged  with  the  execution  of  this 
order  as  far  as  relates  to  their  respective  commands. 

By  order  of  Major-General  Macomb,  Major-General  Command- 
ing the  Army. 

(Signed)     R.  Jones,  Adjutan'-Gencral. 

order  no.   16. 
Adjutant-General's  Office,  Washington,  23  Feb.,  1832. 

(Copy.)  The  headquarters  of  the  2nd  Regiment  of  Infantry  are 
transferred  to  Port  Niagara.  Lieut. -Col.  Cummings,  with  all  the 
officers  and  men  composing  the  garrison  of  Madison  Barracks, 
Sackett's  Harbor,  will  accordingly  relieve  the  garrison  of  Fort 
Niagara;  and  Major  Whistler,  on  being  relieved  by  Lieut-Col. 
Cummings,  with  all  the  troops  under  his  command,  will  repair  to 
Fort  Dearborn  (Chicago,  Illinois)  and  garrison  that  post. 

Assistant  Surgeon  De  Camp,  now  on  duty  at  Madison  Barracks, 
is  assigned  to  duty  at  Fort  Dearborn,  and  will  accompany  the 
troops  ordered  to  that  post.  These  movements  will  take  place  as 
soon  as  the  navigation  will  permit. 

By  order  of  Major-General  Macomb. 

(Signed)     R.  Jones,  Adjutant-General. 

GENERAL.  ORDER  HEAQUARTERS  OF  THE  ARMY.    NO.  80. 
Adjutant-General's  Office,  Washington,  Nov.  30th,  1836. 
(Extract)  1.     The   troops  stationed  at   Fort  Dearborn,  Chicago, 
will  immediately  proceed  to  Fort  Howard  and  join  the  garrison  at 


146 


THK    CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 


that  post.  Such  public  property  as  may  be  left  at  Fort  Dearborn 
will  remain  in  charge  of  Brevt-Major  Plympton,  of  the  5th  In- 
fantry; who  will  continue  in  command  of  the  post  until  otherwise 
instructed. 

By  order  of  Alexander  Macomb,  Maj.-Gen.  Com'd'g-in-Chief. 
(Signed)    R.  Jones,  Adjutant-General. 


When  the  last  fort  was  being  demolished  [1856]  an  old 
paper  was  found  which  bore  internal  evidence  of  being  a 


INTERIOR   OF  NEW   FORT    (1850),    LAKE  HOUSE   IN  THE  DISTANCE. 


.^e^N 


survival  from  the  first  fort.  How  it  could  have  survived 
the  flames  of  1812  is  a  mystery.  Perhaps  some  brick 
bomb-proof  magazine  chanced  to  shelter  it,  and  the  build- 
ers of  the  new  fort,  finding  it,  laid  it  in  a  closet,  where 
it  remained,  hidden  and  forgotten.  One  would  like  to  see 
it  to-day — if  it  also  survived  October  9,  1871I 

Permission  is  hereby  given  for  one  gill  of  whiskey  each:  Deni- 
son,*  Dyer,*  Andrews,*  Keamble  (?),  Burman,  J.  Corbin,*  Burnett, 
Smith,*  McPherson,  Hamilton,  Fury*,  Grumond*  (?j,  Morfitt, 
Lynch,*  Locker*,  Peterson,*  P.  Corbin,*  Van  Horn,*  Mills. 


(Signed), 


November  12th,  181 1. 


&ry?  &^rXy 


*Appear  on  the  muster-roll  given  on  page  150.    Several  of  the  names  recur 
in  the  Plattsburg  story  of  the  nine  survivors  (21  May  1814). 


APPENDIX  B!    FORT  DEARBORN  RECORDS. 


147 


On  December  29,  1836,  the  garrison  was  finally  with- 
drawn from  Fort  Dearborn,  and  after  its  thirty- three 
years  of  stirring  vicissitudes  it  passed  into  a  useless  old 
age,  which  lasted  a  score  of  years  before  its  abandonment 
as  a  government  possession.  In  fact,  one  of  its  buildings 
— a  great,  barn-like,  wooden  hospital — was  standing,  in 
use  as  a  hospital  storehouse,  up  to  1871,  when  the  great 
fire  obliterated  it,  with  nearly  all  else  that  was  ancient  in 
Chicago. 


An  exception  to  this  destruction  and  the  fast  gathering 
cloud  of  oblivion,  is  to  be  found  in  an  old  red  granite 


Ml 

WATTBANSA  STONE  WITH   GREAT  FIRE  RELICS. 

boulder,  with  a  rude  human  face  carved  -on  it,  which 
stood  in  the  center  of  the  fort  esplanade,  and  which  is 
now  (1891)  one  of  our  few  antiquarian  treasures.  It  is 
nearly  eight  feet  high  by  three  feet  in  greatest  diameter, 
and  weighs  perhaps  4,000  pounds.  In  prehistoric  times 
the  Indians  used  the  concave  top  for  a  corn-mill,  and  for 
many,  many  weary  hours  must  the  patient  and  long-suf- 


148  THK    CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OP    l8l2. 

fering  squaws  have  leaned  over  it,  crushing  the  scanty, 
flinty  corn  of  those  days  into  material  for  the  food  of 
braves  and  pappooses. 

Many  persons  have  looked  on  it  as  a  relic  of  prehis- 
toric art — the  sacrificial  stone  of  an  Aztec  teocalli  per- 
haps— but  Mr.  Hnrlbut  gives  the  cold  truth;  more  mod- 
ern, though  scarcely  less  romantic.  He  says  it  was  set  up 
in  the  fort,  and  soldiers,  sick  and  well,  used  it  as  a 
lounging-place.  Sometimes  it  served  as  a  pillory  for  dis- 
orderly characters,  and  it  was  a  common  expression  or 
threat,  that  for  certain  offenses  the  offender  would  be 
"sent  to  the  rock."  Waubansa  was  a  Chicago  chief;  and 
a  soldier-sculptor  tried  to  depict  his  features  on  the  stone; 
and  (to  quote  Mr.  Hurlbut): 

"  The  portrait  pleased  the  Indians,  the  liege  friends  of 
the  chief,  greatly;  for  a  party  of  them,  admitted  into  the 
block-house  to  see  it,  whooped  and  leaped  as  if  th^y  had 
achieved  a  victory,  and  with  uncouth  gestures  they 
danced  in  a  triumphant  circle  around  the  rock." 

In  1837  .  .  Daniel  Webster  paid  a  visit  to  the  West,  and  took 
Chicago  in  his  route.  .  .  The  conveyance  was  a  barouche  with 
four  elegant  creams  attached.  Mr.  Webster  was  accompanied  by 
his  daughter  and  son.  Every  wheel-vehicle,  every  horse  and  mule 
in  town,  it  is  said,  were  in  requisition  that  day,  and  the  senator  was 
met  some  miles  out  by  a  numerous  delegation  from  this  new  ctrv, 
who  joined  in  the  procession.  .  .  .  It  was  the  fourth  of  July,  the 
column  came  over  Randolph  Street  bridge,  and  thence  to  the 
parade-ground  within  the  fort.  There  were  guns  at  the  fort,  which 
were  eloquent,  of  course,  though  the  so1diers  had  left  some  weeks 
before.  The  foundation  of  all  this  outcry  about  Mr.  Webster  is, 
that  the  base  and  platform  on  which  that  gentleman  stood  when  he 
made  the  speech  within  the  fort,  was  the  rock,  the  same  Waubansa 
stone.  .  .  .  Justin  Butterfield  (who  stood  directly  in  front  of  the 
senator)  swung  his  hat  and  cheered  the  speaker. 

The  "statue"  was  pierced  to  form  the  base  of  a  foun- 
tain, and  was  set  up  as  one  of  the  curiosities  of  the  great 
Sanitary  Commission  Fair,  held  in  1865,  in  Dearborn 
Park,  in  aid^pf  the  sick  and  wounded  in  the  war  for  the 
Union.  In  i856  it  was  adopted  as  a  relic  by  the  Hon. 
Isaac  N.  Arnold — member  of  Congress  during  the  war 
and  one  of  the  staunchest  and  ablest  of  patriots,  and 
most  devoted  of  friends  to  the  soldiers — who  moved  it  to 
his  home,  in  Erie  street.  Mr.  Arnold's  house  was  burned 
with  the  rest  in  the  great  fire  of  1871,   and  old   "Wau- 


appendix  b:  fort  dearborn  records.         149 

bansa' '  passed  through  the  flames  with  the  same  unmoved 
look  he  had  preserved  through  his  earlier  vicissitudes. 
Afterward  numerous  fire  relics  were  grouped  about  him 
and  a  photograph  taken,  wherein,  for  the  first  time,  he 
looks  abashed,  as  if  conscious  of  the  contrast  between  his 
uncouthness  and  the  carvings  which  surround  his  antique 
lineaments.  The  stone  stands  open  to  the  public  view  in 
the  grounds  adjoining  the  new  home  (ioo  Pine  Street), 
which  Mr.  Arnold  built  after  the  fire,  and  in  which  he 
lived  up  to  the  time  of  his  lamented  death,  in  April,  1884. 


Who  were  the  victims  of  August  fifteenth,  18 1 2  ?  What 
were  the  names  of  the  killed,  the  wounded,  the  tortured, 
the  missing  ?  This  is  a  question  to  which  only  the 
merest  apology  for  an  answer  can  be  given.  In  tens  of 
thousands  of  cases  the  very  act  of  dying  for  one's  country 
forbids  the  possibility  of  becoming  known  to  fame. 
Nameless  graves  dot  our  land  from  north  to  south,  and 
from  east  to  west,  especially  from  the  Susquehanna  to 
the  Rio  Grande  and  from  the  Ohio  to  the  Gulf.  Heaven 
knows  who  were  those  dead,  and  who  they  might  have 
become  if  they  had  not  died  when  and  where  they  did. 
Let  us  hope  that  somewhere  in  the  universe  they  have 
their  record — on  earth  they  are  forgotten. 

I  have  aimed  at  recording  every  surviving  name  of  the 
dwellers  in  Chicago  up  to  the  massacre.  As  an  effort 
toward  that  end,  I  give,  on  the  next  page,  the  last  muster 
and  pay-roll  of  the  troops  at  the  old  fort,  as  shown  by 
existing  records.     It  is  headed  : 

"Muster  roll  of  a  company  of  Infantry  under  the  com- 
mand of  Captain  Nathan  Heald,  in  the  First  Regiment  of 
the  United  States,  commanded  by  Colonel  Jacob  Kings- 
bury, from  Nov.  30,  when  last  mustered,  to  December 
31,  1810." 

It  concludes  with  a  certificate  in  the  following  form, 
identical,  by  the  way,  with  the  formula  in  use  in  our 
army  to  this  day  (1893): 

Recapitulation.— Present,  fit  for  duty,  50;  sick,  6;  unfit  for  service,  3;  on 
command,  1;  on  furlough,  1;  discharged,  6.     Total,  67. 

We  certify  on  honor  that  this  muster-roll  exhibits  a  true  statement  of  the 
company  commanded  by  Captain  Nathan  Heald,  and  that  the  remarks  set  op- 
posite their  names  are  accurate  and  just.  J.  Cooper,  S.  Mate. 

Ph.  O'Strander,  Lieutenant  commanding  the  Company. 


Rank 

Appointed  or  en- 

Remarks and  changes 

listed. 

since  last  muster. 

♦Nathan  Heald 

Captain..   . 

31  Jan.  1807 

On  furlough  in  Mass. 

Philip  O'Strander 

2tid  Lieut. 

1  May  1808....  -j 

Preseut.   Of  Capt.   Rhea's 
Co.  Asst.  M  y  Agt.  Sick. 

Seth  Thompson   ..   . 

" 

r3  Aug.  1808. 

Present 

*John  Cooper 

Surg  Mate 

13  June  1808 

Sergeant  . 

18  June  1806 

2  July  1808 

10  May  1806 

Richard  Rickman 

" 

Corporal. .. 

6  July  1807 

26  Jan.   1810 

*Asa  Campbell 

*Rhodias  Jones. 

9  Dec.  1807 

*Richard  Garner 

" 

2  Oct.   1810 

George  Burnet 

Fifer.   ..... 

1  Oct.   1806  

John  Smith 

" 

27  June  1806 

S  July  1808 

*John  Hamilton 

Drummer 

*Hugh  McPherson.    . 

" 

20  Oct.  1807   

*John  Allen 

Private  . . . 

27  Nov.  1810 

George  Adams 

" 

21  Aug.  1806 

Presley  Andrews  

" 

11  July  1806 

"    (sick). 

Thomas  Ashbrook.    .. 

29  Dec.  1805.  .. 

Term  expired  29  Dec.  1810. 

Thomas  Burns 

" 

18  June  1806 

Present. 

" 

27  May  1806 

2  July  1806   

"    (sick). 

Redmond  Berry  

" 

William  Best 

22  April  1806.. . 

Present  unfit  for  service. 

James  Chapman 

" 

1  Dec.  1805 

Time  expired  1  Dec.  1810. 

James  Corbin   

2  Oct.   1810... 

Present. 

Fielding  Corbin 

" 

7  Dec.  1805 

Time  expired  7  Dec.  1810. 

Silas  Clark  

" 

15  Aug.  1806 

On  command  at  Ft.  Wayne 
Time  expired  4  Dec.  1810. 

James  Clark    

" 

4  Dec.  1805 

*Dyson  Dver 

" 

1  Oct.   1810 

Present  (sick). 

Stephen  Draper 

4> 

19  July  1806 

*Daniel  Dougherty 

'' 

13  Aug.  1807 

" 

Michael  Denison 

" 

28  April  1806   .... 

" 

*  Nathan  Edson : 

" 

6Aprili8io     .    . 

" 

u 

19  March  1808.... 
1  Oct.   1810 

" 

*Paul  Grummo 

" 

*William  N.  Hunt 

" 

18  Oct.   I810 

44 

Tohn  Kelsoe 

" 

17  Dec.  1805 

Time  expired  17  Dec.  1810. 

*David  Kennisou 

" 

14  March  1808. . . . 

Present. 

*Sara'l  Kirkpatrick.. . . 

" 

20  Dec.  1810 

Re-enlisted    20  Dec.    1810. 

*Jacob  Laudou 

" 

28  Nov.  1807 

Unfit  for  service. 

*  Michael  Lynch  

" 

20  Dec.  1810 

Re-enlisted   20  Dec.    1810. 

*Michael  Leonard 

' ' 

13  April  1810 

Present. 

Hugh  Logan 

" 

5  May  1806  

" 

*Frederick  Locker..  . 

" 

13  April  1810 

" 

Andrew  Lov 

44 

6  July  1807 

" 

August  Mott 

•' 

9  July  1806 

" 

Ralph  Miller 

" 

19  Dec.  1805 

13  June  1806.  ... . 
2  Aug.  1807   

Term  expired  19  Dec.  1810. 

Peter  Miller 

.! 

*Duucau  McCartv  .... 

Present. 

Pa  rick  McGowan 

*• 

30  April  1806.. . 

•' 

James  Mabury 

" 

14  April  1806 

" 

William  Moffit... 

" 

23  April  1806 . 

" 

John  Movan 

** 

2S  June  1806 

" 

*John  Neads   

"               S  July  1808  

" 

"           |  8  Sept.  1810 

"               3  Sept.  1810  . .    . 

14 

*Thomas  Poindexter.. 

" 

William  Pickett   

"            i  6  June  1806  .... 

" 

^Frederick   Peterson  . . 

"               1  June  1808 

•' 

*David  Sherror 

,   1  Oct.  1810 

•* 

*John  Suttonfield 

'  8  Sept.  1807     ..  . 

" 

*John   Smith 

2  April  1808 

*James  Starr 

"             18  Nov.  i8oq 

*-* 

Phillip  Smith   

3c  April  1806 

14  March  1810  .    . 

»• 

*John  Simmons   .     . 

"         (sick). 

*James  Van  Home .... 

44 

2  Mav  I810 

(sick). 

Anthony  L.  Waggoner 

" 

9  Jan   I806 

" 

*Men  who  are  likely  to  have  been  in  service  at  the  time  of  the  massacre. 

150 


APPENDIX   C. 


THE   WHISTLER    FAMILY. 


CCORDING  to  Gardner's  Mil- 
itary Dictionary,  Captain  John 
Whistler  was  born  in  Ireland. 
He   was   originally  a  British 
vSoldier,    and    was  made  pris- 
oner with   General  Burgoyne 
at  the  battle  of  Saratoga,  in 
1777,  where  our  General  Henry 
Dearborn  was  serving  as  Ma- 
jor.    The  captives  were  con- 
ducted  to  Boston,   where,   by  the 
terms    of    the    capitulation,   they 
should  have  been  paroled;  but  for 
some  reason  (which  the  English,  by 
the  way,  considered  no  sufficient  excuse  for 
not  complying  with  the  military  agreement) 
the  Continental  Congress  held  them  as  pris- 
oners of  war  until  the  peace  of  1783. 

John  Whistler  did  not  return  to  England, 
but  joined  the  American  army  and  became 
first  sergeant,  and  then  won  his  way  to  acap- 
wildonion.  taincy  in  the  First  Infantry,  in  which  capac- 
ity he  came,  in  1804,  and  built  the  first  Fort  Dearborn. 
He  was  brevetted  major  in  181 2,  and  served  with  his 
company  until  it  was  disbanded  after  the  close  of  the  war 
(June,  1815).  He  died  in  1827  at  Bellefontaine,  Missouri, 
where  he  had  been  military  storekeeper  for  several  years. 
John  Went  worth  (Fort  Dearborn;  Fergus'  Historical 
Series,  No.  16,  p.  14)  says: 

Some  writers  contend  that  had  Captain  Whistler  been  in  charge 
of  the  fort  instead  of  Captain  Heald,  the  massacre  would  not  hare 
taken  place.  Captain  Heald  has  had  no  one  to  speak  for  him  here. 
But  he  was  appointed  from  Massachusetts  a  second  lieutenant  in 

151 


152  THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

1799,  and  could  not  be  supposed  to  have  that  acquaintance  with  the 
characteristics  of  the  Indians  which  Whistler  had,  who  had  been  in 
his  country's  service  ever  since  Burgoyne's  surrender  in  1777,  and 
principally  against  the  Indians,  and  frequently  participating  in  the 
campaigns  of  General  Arthur  St.  Clair,  in  one  of  which  he  was 
wounded. 

Of  him  Captain  Andreas  says  (Hist.  Chi.  Vol.  I,  p.  80): 
After  the  war  he  married  and  settled  in  Hagerstown,  Md.,  where 
his  son  William  was  born.  He  enlisted  in  the  American  army  and 
took  part  in  the  Northwestern  Indian  War,  serving  under  St.  Clair 
and  afterward  under  Wayne.  He  was  speedily  promoted,  rising 
through  the  lower  grades  to  a  lieutenancy  in  1792,  and  became  a 
captain  in  1794.  He  rebuilt  the  fort  in  1815*  [after  the  destruction 
and  massacre  in  1812]  and  removed  to  St.  Charles,  Mo.,  in  1817.  In 
1818  he  was  military  storekeeper  at  St.  Louis,  and  died  at  Bellefon- 
taine,  Mo.,  in  1827.  He  was  a  brave  and  efficient  officer,  and  be- 
came the  progenitor  of  a  line  of  brave  and  efficient  soldiers. 

His  son,  George  Washington  Whistler,  was  with  Cap- 
tain John  when  the  family  came  to  Chicago,  being  then 
three  years  old.  This  is  the  Major  Whistler  who  became 
a  distinguished  engineer  in  the  service  of  Russia. 
Another  son,  Lieutenant  William  Whistler.  w7ith  his 
young  wife  (Julia  Ferson)  came  to  Chicago  with  Captain 
Whistler.  He  will  be  mentioned  later  as  one  of  the  last 
commandants  of  Fort  Dearborn,  holding  that  post  until 
1833.     He  lived  until  1863. 

Julia  Ferson,  who  became  Mrs.  William  Whistler,  was 
born  in  Salem,  Mass.,  1787.  Her  parents  were  John  and 
Mary  (La  Dake)  Ferson.  In  childhood  she  removed  with 
her  parents  to  Detroit,  where  she  received  most  of  her 
education.  In  May,  1802,  she  was  married  to  William 
Whistler  (born  in  Hagerstown  Md.,  about  1784),  a  sec- 
and  lieutenant  in  the  company  of  his  father,  Captain  John 
Whistler,  U.  S.  A.,  then  stationed  at  Detroit.  (Fergus' 
Historical  Series  No.  16.)  She  visited  Chicago  in  1875, 
when,  at  eighty-seven,  her  mind  and  memory  were  of  the 
brightest,  and  conversation  writh  her  on  old  matters  was 
a  rare  pleasure.  Mrs.  General  Philip  Sheridan  is  her 
grand  niece,  and  cherishes  her  relationship  as  a  patent  to 
high  rank  in  our  Chicago  nobility.  No  portrait  of  John 
Whistler  is  known  to  exist.  For  likenesses  of  Major 
and  Mrs.  William  Whistler  see  pages  58  and  59. 

*Apparently  an  error.  The  second  fort  was  built  by  Captain  Hezekiah 
Bradley,  who  was  sent  here  for  that  purpose  with  two  companies  of  infantry, 
arriving  July  4,  1816. 


APPENDIX  C:    THE  WHISTLER  FAMILY. 


153 


A  daughter  of  William  and  this  charming  old  lady  was 
born  in  1818,  and  named  Gwenthlean.  She  was  married 
at  Fort  Dearborn,  in  1834,  to  Robert  A.    Kinzie.   second 


MRS.    GWENTHLEAN   [WHISTLER]   KINZIE   (1891). 

son  of  John  Kinzie,  the  pioneer.  Mrs.  Gwenthlean  Kin- 
zie is  now  living  in  Chicago,  and  has  been  consulted  in 
the  preparation  of  this  narrative.* 

*On  mentioning  to  Judge  Caton  that  Mrs  Robert  Kinzie  was  again  living 
here  following  a  loug  absence,  the  venerable  Chief-Justice,  after  a  moment's 
thought,  said:  "  Yes,  I  remember  the  marriage,  and  that  the  bride  was  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  women  you  can  imagine.  I  have  never  seen  her  since  that 
time.  Ladies  were  not  plentiful  in  this  part  of  the  world  then,  and  we  were 
not  over  particular  about  looks,  but  Gwenthlean  Whistler  Kinzie  would  be 
noted  for  her  beauty  anywhere  at  any  time."  And  on  looking  at  the  lady  her- 
self, one  can  well  believe  all  that  can  be  said  in  praise  of  her  charms  in  her 
girlish  years— sixteen  when  she  was  married. 


154  THE   CHICAGO    MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

Mr.  Hurlbut  (Chicago  Antiquities,  p.  83)  gives  the 
following  spirited  account  of  a  visit  made  in  1875  to  Mrs. 
Julia  (Ferson)  Whistler,  wife  of  William  and  daughter-in- 
law  of  old  John,  the  whilom  soldier  in  the  army  of  General 
Burgoyne.  (It  will  be  observed  that  Mr.  Hurlbut  slightly 
mistook  his  war  record). 

Very  few  of  the  four  hundred  thousand  reasonably  adult  indi- 
viduals now  residing  in  Chicago  are  aware  that  the  person  of  whom 
we  are  going  to  speak  is  now  a  visitor  in  Chicago.  After  so  long  a 
period — since  early  in  the  century;  before  those  of  our  citizens  who 
have  reached  their  "three-score  years  and  ten"  were  born,  when 
she  came,  a  trustful  wife  of  sixteen,  and  stepped  ashore  upon  the 
river-bank — it  is  not  a  little  remarkable  that  she  is  to-day  again 
passing  over  and  around  the  locality  of  her  early  home.  Under  the 
gentle  supervision  of  this  married  maiden's  blue  eyes  our  stockade- 
fortress,  then  so  far  within  the  wilderness,  was  erected.  Yet,  of  all 
those  who  came  in  that  summer  of  1803;  the  sailor-men  of  that  ves- 
sel, the  oarsmen  of  that  boat,  the  company  of  United  States  sol- 
diers, Captain  and  Mrs.  Whistler  and  their  con,  the  husband  and 
his  bride  of  a  year;  all,  we  may  safely  say,  have  bid  adieu  to  earth 
excepting  this  lone  representative.  These  are  some  of  the  circum- 
stances which  contribute  to  make  this  lady  a  personage  of  unusual 
interest  to  the  dwellers  here.  A  few  particulars  in  the  life  of  Mrs. 
Whistler,  together  with  some  of  the  facts  attending  the  coming  of 
those  who  arrived  to  assist  in  the  building  of  Fort  Dearborn,  will 
certainly  be  acceptable. 

It  was  a  coveted  pilgrimage  v\hich  we  sought,  as  any  one  might 
believe,  for  it  was  during  the  tremendous  rain-storm  of  the  evening 
of  the  29th  of  October,  1875,  that  we  sallied  out  to  call  at  Mrs.  Col- 
onel R.  A.  Kinzie's,  for  an  introduction  to  the  lady's  mother,  Mrs. 
Whistler.  When  we  entered  the  parlor,  the  venerable  woman  was 
engaged  at  the  center  table,  in  some  game  of  amusement  with  her 
grand-children  and  great  grand-children,  seemingly  as  much  inter- 
ested as  any  of  the  juveniles.  (We  will  remark  here  that  five  gen- 
erations in  succession  of  this  family  have  lived  in  Chicago.)  She 
claimed  to  enjoy  good  health,  and  was,  apparently,  an  unusual 
specimen  of  well  preserved  faculties,  both  intellectual  and  physical. 
She  is  of  tall  form,  and  her  appearance  still  indicates  the  truth  of 
the  common  report,  that  in  her  earlier  years  she  was  a  person  of 
uncommon  elegance.  A  marked  trait  of  hers  has  been  a  spirit  of 
unyielding  energy  and  determination,  and  which  length  of  years 
has  not  yet  subdued.  Her  tenacious  memory  ministers  to  a  vol- 
uble tongue,  and  we  may  say,  briefly,  she  is  an  agreeable,  intel- 
ligent, and  sprightly  lady,  numbering  only  a  little  over  88  years. 
"To-day,"  said  she,  "I  received  my  first  pension  on  account  of 
my  husband's  services."  Mrs.  Whistler  resides  in  Newport,  Ken- 
tucky. She  has  one  .son  and  several  graud-sons  in  the  army.  Born 
in  Salem,  Mass.,  July  3rd,  1787,  her  maiden  name  was  Julia  Ferson, 
and  her  parents  were  John  and  Mary  (LaDake)  Ferson.  In  child- 
hood she  removed  with  her  parents  to  Detroit,  where  she  received 
most   of  her   education.     In   the   month  of  May,    1802,   she   was 


APPENDIX  C:    THE  WHISTLER  FAMILY.  155 

married  to  William  Whistler  (born  in  Hagerstown,  Md.,  about  1784), 
a  second  lieutenant  in  the  company  of  his  father,  Captain  John 
Whistler,  U.  S.  A.,  then  stationed  at  Detroit.  In  the  summer  ot 
the  ensuing  year,  Captain  Whistler's  company  was  ordered  to  Chi- 
cago, to  occupy  the  post  and  build  the  fort.  Lieutenant  James  S. 
Swearingen  (late  Col.  Swearingen  of  Chillicothe,0.)  conducted  the 
company  from  Detroit  overland.  The  U.  S.  Steamer  "Tracy,"  Dorr 
master,  was  despatched  at  same  time  for  same  destination,  with 
supplies,  and  having  also  on  board  Captain  John  Whistler,  Mrs. 
Whistler,  their  son  George  W.,  then  three  years  old  [afterwards  the 
distinguished  engineer  in  the  employ  of  the  Russian  government] 
Lieutenant  William  Whistler,  and  the  young  wife  of  the  last  named 
gentleman.  The  schooner  stopped  briefly  on  her  route  at  the  St. 
Joseph's  river,  where  the  Whistlers  left  the  vessel  and  took  a  row- 
boat  to  Chicago.  The  schooner,  on  arriving  at  Chicago,  anchored 
half  a  mile  from  the  shore,  discharging  her  freight  by  boats.  Some 
two  thousand  Indians  visited  the  locality  while  the  vessel  was  here, 
being  attracted  by  so  unusual  an  occurrence  as  the  appearance,  in 
these  waters,  of  a  "big  canoe  with  wings."  Lieutenant  Swearingen 
returned  with  the  "  Tracy"  to  Detroit. 

There  were  then  here,  says  Mrs  W.,  but  four  rude  huts  or 
traders'  cabins,  occupied  by  white  men,  Canadian  French  with  In- 
dian wives  ;  of  these  were  Le  Mai,  Pettell  and  Ouilmette.  No  fort 
existed  here  at  that  time,  although  it  is  understood  (see  treaty  of 
Greenville)  that  there  had  been  one  at  a  former  day,  built  by  the 
French,  doubtless,  as  it  was  upon  one  of  the  mam  routes  from  New- 
France  to  Louisiana,  of  which  extensive  region  that  government 
long  held  possession  by  a  series  of  military  posts.  [It  is  said  that 
Durantaye,  a  French  official,  built  some  sort  of  a  fortification  here  as 
early  as  1685.] 

Captain  Whistler,  upon  his  arrival,  at  once  set  about  erecting  a 
stockade  and  shelter  for  their  protection,  followed  by  getting  out 
the  sticks  for  the  heavier  work.  It  is  worth  mentioning  here  that 
there  was  not  at  that  time  within  hundreds  of  miles  a  team  of 
horses  or  oxen,  and,  as  a  consequence,  the  soldiers  had  to  don  the 
harness,  and  with  the  aid  of  ropes  drag  home  the  needed  timbers. 
The  birth  of  two  children  within  the  fort  we  have  referred  to  else- 
where. Lieutenant  Whistler,  after  a  five  years'  sojourn  here,  was 
transferred  to  Fort  Wayne,  having  previously  been  made  a  first  lieu- 
tenant. He  distinguished  himself  at  the  battle  of  Maguago,  Mich. , 
August  9th,  181 2;  was  in  Detroit  at  the  time  of  Hull's  surrender, 
and,  with  Mrs.  Whistler,  was  taken  prisoner  to  Montreal  ;  was 
promoted  to  a  Captain  in  December,  1812,  to  Major  in  1826,  and  to 
Lieutenant-Colonel  in  1845.  At  his  death  he  had  rendered  sixty- 
two  years  continuous  service  in  the  army,  yet  Mrs.  W.  says  she 
remembers  but  six  short  furloughs  during  the  whole  time.  He 
was  stationed  at  various  posts,  besides  those  of  Green  Bay,  Niagara, 
and  Sackett's  Harbor ;  at  the  last  named  post  General  Grant  (then 
a  subaltern  officer)  belonged  to  the  command  of  Colonel  W.  In 
June,  1832,  Colonel  Whistler  arrived  again  at  Fort  Dearborn,  not 
the  work  which  he  had  assisted  to  build  twenty-eight  years  before, 
for  that  was  burned  in  1812,  but  the  later  one,  erected  in  1816-17. 
He  then  remained  here  but  a  brief  period. 


156  THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

Colonel  William  Whistler's  height  at  maturity  was  six  feet  two 
inches,  and  his  weight  at  one  time  was  250  pounds.  He  died  in 
Newport,  Kentucky,  December  4th,  1863. 

Captain  John  Whistler,  the  builder  and  commandant  of  the  first 
Fort  Dearborn  (afterwards  Major  W.)  was  an  officer  in  the  army 
of  the  Revolution.  We  regret  that  we  have  so  few  facts  concerning 
his  history  ;  nor  have  we  a  portrait  or  signature  of  the  patriot.  It 
is  believed  that  when  ordered  to  Chicago  he  belonged  to  a  regiment 
of  artillery.  He  continued  in  command  at  Fort  Dearborn  until  the 
fore  part  of  1S11,  we  think,  for  wre  notice  that  his  successor,  Cap- 
tain Heald,  gave  to  the  Pottowatomie  chief  "Little  Chief"  a  pass  to 
St.  Louis,  dated  July  11,  181 1.  Mrs.  Whistler  expressed  to  us  her 
opinion  that  had  Captain  W.  been  continued  in  command,  the 
Chicago  massacre  would  not  have  happened.  Major  John  Whist- 
ler died  at  Bellefontaiue,  Mo.,  in  1827. 

Colonel  James  Swearingeu  was  a  second  lieutenant  in  1803,  when 
he  conducted  the  company  of  Captain  Whistler  from  Detroit  across 
Michigan  to  Chicago.  The  regiment  of  artillery,  with  which  he 
was  connected,  is  understood  to  have  been  the  only  corps  of  that 
branch  of  defence.  Lieutenant  Swearingeu  continued  in  the  service 
until  about  1816,  attaining  the  rank  of  colonel,  when  he  resigned 
his  commission  and  made  his  residence  in  Chillicothe,  O.,  where 
he  died  on  his  eighty-second  birthday,  in  February,  1864 

Mrs.  Julia  (Ferson)  Whistler  died  at  Newport,  Ky., 
in  1878,  at  the  ripe  age  of  ninety  years. 

James  McNeil  Whistler,  the  eccentric  and  distinguished 
London  artist,  is  descended  from  old  John,  the  Burgoyne 
British  soldier,  through  George  Washington  Whistler, 
the  great  American  engineer  in  the  Russian  service. 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  both  our  old  leading 
families,  the  Whistlers  and  the  Kinzies,  have  furnished 
successive  generations  of  soldiers  to  their  country.  The 
heroic  death  of  John  Harris  Kinzie,  second,  will  be  noted 
in  the  Appendix  D,  which  is  devoted  to  the  Kinzie 
family.  Of  the  Whistlers,  some  of  the  name  have  been 
constantly  in  the  military  service,  and  when  the  two 
families  joined  by  the  marriage  of  Robert  Kinzie  and 
Gwenthlean  Whistler  the  racial  tendency  continued. 

General  Garland  Whistler,  son  of  Colonel  William 
Whistler,  was  a  graduate  of  West  Point,  and  a  soldier  in 
the  war  for  the  Union.  He  is  now  on  the  retired  list. 
His  son,  Major  Garland  Whistler,  also  a  graduate,  was 
in  the  late  war  and  is  still  in  the  service.  Major  David 
Hunter  Kinzie,  son  of  Robert  (uniting  the  two  families), 
left  West  Point  for  active  service  in  the  Union  war.  He 
is  now  at  the  Presidio,  California.  Captain  John  Kinzie, 
another  son  of  Robert,  is  stationed  at  Omaha. 


APPENDIX   D. 


THE)    KIXZIE    FAMILY. 


EGINNING  at  a  point  even 
further  back  in  the  dim  past 
than  the  building  of  Pointe 
de  Saible's  cabin,  we  take  up 
the  narrative  of  the  lives  of 
its  latest  owners, 
John  Kinzie  was  born  in  Quebec 
about  1763,  son  of  John  McKen- 
zie,  or  McKinzie,  a  Scotchman, 
who  married  Mrs.  Haliburton,  a 
widow,  with  one  daughter,*  and 
died  when  his  son  John  was  very 
young.  Mrs.  McKenzie  made  a 
third  marriage,  wTith  one  William 
Forsyth,  who*  had  served  under 
General  Wolfe  in  the  taking  of 
Quebec.  William  Forsyth,  with 
wife,  children  and  step-children, 
lived  many  years  in  New  York, 
and  later  in  Detroit. 
While  they  lived  in  New  York,  John  McKinzie,  after- 
ward John  Kinzie,  was  sent,  with  two  Forsyth  half-broth- 
ers, to  school  in  Williamsburgh,  just  across  the  East 
river ;  a  negro  servant,  or  slave,  going  every  Saturday 
night  to  bring  the  three  boys  home.  One  Saturday  there 
was  no  Johnnie  to  be  found — the  embryo  frontiersman 
had  runaway.  He  got  on  board  a  sloop  bound  for  Albany 
and  fell  in  with  some  one  who  helped  him  on  to  Quebec, 
where  he  found  employment  in  the  shop  of  a  silversmith ; 
and  there  he  remained  three  3^ears  and  learned  the  trade 


*This  daughter,  half-sister  of  John  Kinzie,  is  said  in  Wau-Bun  to  have  pos- 
sessed beauty  and  accomplishments,  and  to  have  lived  to  become  the  motherof 
General  Fleming  and  Nicholas  Low,  both  very  well  known  in  New  York  and 
Brooklyn. 

157 


158  the;  CHICAGO  massacrk  of  1812. 

which  later  gave  him  the  Jndian  name,  "Shaw-nee-aw- 
kee" — silversmith. 

We  next  find  him  in  Detroit,  with  his  mother  and  step- 
father, who  had  moved  thither  with  their  Forsyth  chil- 
dren.* Robert  Forsyth,  a  grandson  of  William,  was 
well  known  in  Chicago  in  the  decade  before  the  Union 
War.  He  was  an  officer  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railway, 
and  his  tall,  handsome  figure,  his  bluff,  hearty  manners 
and  his  unquestionable  ability,  made  him  a  general 
favorite. 

While  at  Detroit,  John  Kinzie  began  his  long  career  as 
Indian-trader,  beginning  with  the  Shawnees  and  Ottawas 
in  the  Ohio  country.  In  this  way  he  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  two  Indian  girls,  who,  when  3'oung,  had  been 
captured  on  the  Kanawha  River  and  taken  to  Chillicothe, 
the  headquarters  of  the  tribe.  Their  names  were  Mar- 
garet and  Elizabeth  McKenzie,  and  their  story  is  thus 
romantically  told  by  Rufus  Blanchard  in  his  admirable 
"Discovery  of  the  Northwest  and  History  of  Chicago." 
(R.  Blanchard  &  Co.,  Wheaton,  111.      1881.) 

Among  the  venturesome  pioneers  of  Virginia  was  a  backwoods- 
man named  McKenzie.  He,  with  a  number  of  his  comrades,  settled 
at  the  mouth  of  Wolf  s  creek,  where  it  empties  into  the  Kanawha. 
During  Dunmore's  War  on  the  frontier  [about  1773]  the  Shavva- 
nese,  in  one  of  their  border  forays,  came  suddenly  upon  the  home 
of  McKenzie,  killed  his  wife  and  led  two  of  his  children  into  cap- 
tivity. The  names  of  the  young  captives  were  Margaret,  ten  years 
old,  and  Elizabeth;  eight  years  old.  They  were  taken  to  Chilli- 
cothe, the  great  Indian  Town  of  the  Shawanese,  where  they  were 
adopted  into  the  family  of  a  high-bred  Indian  chief  and  raised  un- 
der the  tender  care  of  his  obedient  squaw,  according  to  custom. 
Ten  years  later  Margaret  was  allowed  to  accompany  her  foster- 
father  on  a  hunting-excursion  to  the  St.  Mary's  River,  near  Fort 
Wayne.     A  young  chief  of  the  same  tribe  became  enamored  by  the 

*Williatn  Forsyth  kept  a  hotel  in  Detroit  for  many  years  and  died  there  in 
1790  Robert,  one  of  his  sons,  was  in  the  service  of  the  American  government 
during  the  war  of  1812.  Thomas,  who  became  Major  Thomas  Forsyth,  U.  S.  A., 
was  born  in  Detroit,  December  5,  1771.  Before  the  war  of  1812,  he  was  Indian 
Agent  among  the  Pottowatoraies  at  Peoria  Lake.  After  the  war  of  1812  he  was 
sent  as  U.  S.  Indian  Agent  among  the  Sauks  and  Foxes,  with  whom  he  re- 
mained many  years.  He  died  at  St.  Touis,  October  29,  1833.  Colonel  Robert 
Forsyth,  an  early  resident  of  Chicago,  was  the  son  of  Major  Thomas  Forsyth; 
George,  another  son  of  William  Forsyth,  was  lost  in  the  woods  near  Detroit, 
August  6,  1778.  (Andreas'  Hist.  Chic.)  Mrs.  Kinzie  quotes  from  the  record  in 
an  old  family  Bible,  as  follows:  "George  Forsyth  was  lost  in  the  woods  6th 
August,  1778,  when  Henry  Hays  and  Mark  Stirling  ran  away  and  left  him.  The 
remainsof  George  Forsyth  were  found  by  anlndian  the  2d  of  October,  i776close 
by  the  Prairie  Ronde."  Family  tradition  gives  some  particulars  of  the  disaster, 
adding  the  touching  fact  that  after  its  fourteen  months'  exposure  there  was 
nothing  to  identify  the  body  but  the  auburn  curls  and  the  little  boots. 


appendix  d:  the  kinzie  family. 


159 


graces  and  accompli  ihmeuts  of  the  young  captive,  but  Margaret  re- 
coiled from  her  swarthy  lover  and  determined  not  to  yield  her  heart 
to  one  who  had  no  higher  destiny  for  her  than  to  ornament  his  leg- 
gings with  porcupine  quills — one  of  the  highest  accomplishments 
of  which  a  squaw  is  capable.  Margaret's  lover  approached  the 
camp  where  she  was  sleeping,  intending  to  force  her  to  become  his 
wife.  According  to  the  Indian  custom,  a  din  of  yells  and  rattle  of  a 
drum  announced  the  intentions  of  the  would-be  bridegroom  to 
the  terrified  victim.     The  heroine  fie  J  to  the  forest  for  protection. 

Fortunately  her 
dog  followed  her  as 
she  fled  down  the 
bank  of  the  St.  Ma- 
ry's River,  to  the 
stockade,  h  a  1  f  a 
mile  distant,  where 
the  horses  were 
kept.  The  footsteps 
of  her  detestable 
lover  were  close  be- 
hind. She  turned 
and  set  her  dog  at 
him,  and  reached 
the  stockade,  un- 
hitched a  horse, 
leaped  upon  his 
back  and  took  her 
flight  through  the 
wilderness,  seven- 
ty-five miles,  to  her 
Indian  home  at 
Chillicothe.  The 
horse  died  the  next 
day  after  he  had 
performed  so  won- 
derful a  feat  with- 
out rest  or  suste- 
nance. This  heroic 
girl  and  her  sister, 
Elizabeth,  became 
afterward  mothers 


JOHN  K.   CLARK. 


of  some  of  the  first  pioneers  of  Chicago. 

After  the  adventures  of  Margaret,  as  just  told,  she,  with  her  sis- 
ter, Elizabeth,  were  taken  to  Detroit  by  their  foster-father,  and  there 
they  became  acquainted  with  John  Kinzie — and  they  were  married. 
Elizabeth  at  the  same  time  met  a  Scotchman  named  Clark  and 
married  him.  The  two  young  couples  lived  in  Detroit  about  five 
years,  during  which  time  Margaret  (Kinzie)  had  three  children, 
William,  James  and  Elizabeth;  and  Elizabeth  (Clark)  had  two, 
John  K.  and  EHzabeth. 

The  treaty  of  Greenville,  1795,  having  restored  peace  on  the 
border,    Mr.   Isaac  McKenzie,   the  father,  received  tidings  of  his 


1G0 


THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OP    l8l2. 


.Sba^.' 


children,  and  went  to  Detroit  to  see  them.  The  two  young  moth- 
ers, with  their  children,  returned  with  their  father  to  their  old 
home,  to  which  arrangement  both  of  their  husbands  consented.  A 
final  separation  was  not  intended,  but  time  and  distance  divorced 
them  forever.  Mr.  Kinzie  afterwards  moved  to  St.  Joseph's,  where 
he  married  a  Mrs.  McKillip,  the  widow  of  a  British  officer.  Mar- 
garet married  Mr.  Benjamin  Hall,  of  Virginia,  and  Elizabeth  mar- 
ried Mr.  Jonas  Clybourn  of  the  same  place.  David,  the  oldest  son  of 
Benjamin  Hall  and  Margaret,  made  a  journey  to  Chicago  in  1822, 
and  he  remained 

there  three  years.  ^:0^^^j^-^^ 

On  his  return  to 
Virginia  his  flat- 
tering account  of 
the  place  induced 
a  number  of  per- 
sons to  emigrate 
thither.  The  first 
of  these  was  Arch- 
i  b  a  Id  Clybourrr, 
the  eldest  son  of 
Elizabeth,  who  re- 
mained a  perma- 
nent resident  and 
an  esteemed  citi- 
zen, well  kuown 
to  thousands  of 
the  present  in- 
habitants of  Chi- 
cago. His  mother 
was  Elizabeth  the 
captive,  who, with 
her  second  hus- 
band, Mr.  Cly- 
bourn,  soon  after- 
wards came  to 
Chicago.  Mr. 
Benjamin  Hall 
was  another  of 
the  Chicago  pio- 
neers who  emi- 
grated to  Chicago 
in  consequence  of 
David  Hall's  commendations  of  its  future  promise.  Margaret,  the 
captive,  was  his  aunt,  and  to  him  the  writer  is  indebted  for  the  de- 

tail  of  Margaret's  and  Elizabeth's  history.  Mr.  Hall  is  now  a 
resident  of  Wheaton.  He  came  to  Chicago  in  1830  and  was  the  pro- 
prietor of  the  first  tannery  ever  established  there. 


ARCHIBALD    CLYBOURN. 


APPENDIX  D:    THE  KINZIE  FAMILY.  161 

Elizabeth  Kinzie,  daughter  of  John  Kinzie,  became  the  wife  of 
Samuel  Miller,  of  a  respectable  Quaker  family  in  Ohio.  She  was 
highly  respected  by  all  who  knew  her.  Her  husband  kept  the  Miller 
House,  at  the  forks  of  the  Chicago  River.  James  Kinzie  came  to 
Chicago  about  1824,  and  was  well  received  by  his  father.  [James 
is  mentioned  by  Mr.  Kinzie  in  a  letter  written  in  182 1,  given  later  in 
this  article]. 

This  is  the  romantic  story  taken  by  Mr.  Blanchard 
from  the  lips  of  the  nephew  of  one  of  the  captive  girls, 
and  given  in  his  valuable  history.  Some  of  the  circum- 
stances stated  as  fact  may  be  questionable,  especially  the 
"marriage"  of  the  girls  to  Mr.  Kinzie  and  Mr.  Clark. 
Their  summary  removal  by  their  father,  and  their  mar- 
riage to  other  men,  considered  with  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
Kinzie  and  Mr.  Clark  to  other  women,  seems  to  cast 
doubt  upon  the  occurrence  of  any  ceremonies,  civil  or  re- 
ligious. Those  relations  were  lightly  held  at  that  time 
and  place.  There  is  doubtless  a  "  bend  sinister  "  some- 
where, but  it  seems  unlikely  that  James  Kinzie  and  Eliz- 
abeth and  Samuel  Miller  would  have  left  the  legitimacy 

of  the  more  distinguished  branch  of  the  family  unassailed 
if  it  had  been  assailable.  (It  is  said  that  Mrs.  Miller  did 
chafe  under  the  scandal.) 

In  1800  John  Kinzie  married  Eleanor  (Iyytle)  McKillip, 
widow  of  a  British  officer,  who  had  one  daughter,  Marga- 
ret, afterward  Mrs.  Lieutenant  Helm.  In  the  same  year 
he  moved  to  the  St.  Joseph's  River,  which  empties  into 
Lake  Michigan  on  its  eastern  side,  nearly  opposite  Chi- 
cago, and  there  set  up  his  trading-house.  His  son,  John 
Harris  Kinzie,  was  born  at  Sandwich,  opposite  Detroit, 
where  his  mother  chanced  to  be  spending  a  day  when  he 
made  his  unexpected  appearance. 

In  1803  John  Kinzie  visited  Chicago,  having  probably 
learned  of  the  approaching  establishment  of  Fort  Dear- 
born, and  bought  the  Le  Mai  house,  built  by  Jean  Bap- 
tiste  Pointe  de  Saible,  some  twenty-five  years  before.  He 
moved  into  it  with  his  family  in  the  following  year. 
From  that  time  to  his  death,  in  1828,  he  is  the  most  con- 
spicuous and  unique  figure  in  Chicago  history,  and  fairly 


162  THK    CHICAGO    MASSACRK   OF    l8l2. 

deserves  the  name  of  the  father  of  the  city.  His  branch 
trading-posts  existed  in  Milwaukee,  at  Rock  River,  on 
the  Illinois  and  Kankakee  Rivers,  and  in  the  Sangamon 
country.     To  quote  again  Andreas  (Hist.  Chic.   Vol.  I, 

P-  73): 

This  extended  Indian  trade  made  the  employment  of  a  large 
number  of  men  at  headquarters  a  necessity,  and  the  Canadian 
voyageurs  in  the  service  of  Mr.  Kinzie  were  about  the  only  white 
men  who  had  occasion  to  visit  Chicago  during  those  early  years. 
He  was  sutler  for  the  garrison  at  the  fort  in  addition  to  his  Indian 
trade,  and  also  kept  up  his  manufacture  of  the  ornaments  in  which 
the  Indians  delighted.  During  the  first  residence  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
John  Kinzie  in  Chicago,  three  children  were  born  to  them — Ellen 
Marion  in  December,  1805;  Maria  Indiana  in  1807,  and  Robert  Al- 
len, February  8,  1810.  Margaret  McKillip,  Mr.  Kinzie's  step- 
daughter, who  married  Lieutenant  LinaiT.  Helm  of  Fort  Dearborn, 
and  also  Robert  Forsyth,  nephewT  of  Mr.  Kinzie,  were  at  times  mem- 
bers of  his  family,  the  latter  being  the  first  teacher  of  John  H. 
Kinzie. 

Henry  H.  Hurlbut  in  his  delightful  "Chicago  Antiqui- 
ties,"* says: 

By  what  we  learn  from  a  search  in  the  county  records  at  De- 
troit, John  Kinzie  seems  to  have  been  doing  business  there  in  the 
years  1795-97  and  '98.  In  May,  1795,  some  portion  of  the  Ottawa 
tribe  of  Indians  conveyed  lands  on  the  Maumee  to  John  Kinzie, 
silversmith,  of  Detroit;  also  in  the  same  year  to  John  Kinzie,  mer- 
chant, of  Detroit.  It  appears,  also,  from  the  same  records,  that  in 
September,  1810,  John  Kinzie  and  John  Whistler  Jr.  were  lately  co- 
partners in  trade  at  Fort  Dearborn,  and  in  the  same  year  John  Kin- 
zie and  Thomas  Forsyth  were  merchants  in  Chicago.  We  are  told 
by  Robert  A.  Kinzie  that  his  father  was  sutler  at  Fort  Dearborn 
when  he  came  to  Chicago  in  1804;  possibly  Mr.  Whistler  Jr.  was 
his  partner  in  that  enterprise.  In  October,  1815,  John  Kinzie  and 
Thomas  Forsyth  were  copartners  in  trade  in  the  District  of  Detroit, 
Territory  of  Michigan.  In  March,  181 6,  appear  on  the  records  the 
names  of  John  Kinzie,  silversmith,  and  Elenor,  his  wife,  of  Detroit. 
By  these  items  it  seems  that  though  Mr.  Kinzie  took  up  his  resi- 
dence in  Chicago  in  1804  [the  first  entry  here  upon  his  books  bore 
date  May  12,  1804]  and  that  he  left  here  after  the  battle  of  August, 
181 2,  returning  in  18 16,  yet  he  was  still  identified  with  Detroit,  cer- 
tainly until  the  summer  of  1816.  We  notice  that  he  was  a  witness 
at  the  treaty  of  Spring  Wells,  near  Detroit,  in  September,  1815. 
He  was  one  of  the  interpreters. 

Wau-Bun  gives  a  long  and  romantic  biography  of  John 
Kinzie  and  his  progenitors;  such  a  sketch  as  would  natu- 

*A  book  full  of  bits  of  old-time  gossip,  traditions  and  skeptical  notes  on 
other  traditions,  controversial  criticism  on  Wau-Bun  and  other  books,  and  good- 
humored  raillery,  aimed  at  persons  and  things  of  the  early  day.  Only  five  hun- 
dred copies  were  printed,  and  the  book  is  becoming  scarce,  but  some  copies  re- 
main for  sale  in  the  family  of  its  author,  27  Wiuthrop  Place,  Chicago. 


APPENDIX  D:    THE  KINZIE  FAMILY. 


163 


rally  (and  properly)  be  made  by  a  daughter-in-law,  writ- 
ing during  the  lifetime  of  many  of  the  persons  directly 
interested  in  the  facts  related,  but  omitting  things  which 
would  shock  the  sensibilities  of  those  persons,  and  mar 
the  literary  symmetry  of  the  picture  set  forth  in  her 
pages.  She  does  not  allude  to  the  Margaret  McKenzie 
episode,  never  mentions  James  Kinzie,  well-known  Chi- 
cagoan  as  he  was,  and  also  ignores  another  matter  which 
the  integrity  of  history  requires  to  be  stated,  and  which 
the  lapse  of  almost  three  generations  should  disarm  of 
the  sting  which  might  attach  to  it  at  the  time  of  Wau- 
Bun.  This  matter  is  the  killing,  in  self-defense,  of  John 
Lalime,  by  John  Kinzie.     (See  Appendix  F.) 

After  the  massacre  and  the  subsequent  events  so  ro- 
mantically described  in 
Wau-Bun,  Mr.  Kinzie 
returned,  probably  in 
the  autumn  of  1816,  to 
Chicago,  where  he  re- 
occupied  the  historic 
house.  To  sit  on  his 
front  porch  and  watch 
the  building  of  a  new 
fort  in  the  old  spot 
must  have  been  a  min- 
gling of  pleasure  and 
pain.  All  that  had 
passed  since  the  origi- 
nal incoming  of  twelve 
years  before  must  have 
seemed  like  a  dream. 
The  lake  to  the  east- 
ward, the  river  in  front, 
the  prairie  beyond  and 
the  oak  woods  behind 
him  were  all  as  of  old; 
but  here  around  him  were  the  children  born  and  reared 
in  the  intervening  years;  here  were  new  soldiers  to  take 
the  place  of  the  little  band  sacrificed  four  years  ago. 
There,  scattered  over  the  sand-hills,  were  the  bleaching 
bones  of  the  martyred  dead,  and  within  dwelt  an  endur- 
ing memory  of  the  horrors  of  their  killing. 


MRS.   JULIETTE   KINZIE    (1856). 

Author  of  "Wau-Bun." 


164 


THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 


And  where  were  the  savings  of  a  lifetime  of  industry, 
courage  and  enterprise  ?  Gone  beyond  recall.  He  made 
heroic  efforts  to  redeem  something  from  the  wreck,  trav- 
eling in  Indian  fashion  and  in  Indian  dress  from  one  to 
another  of  the  places  where  he  had  had  branch  trading- 
posts,  and  where  debts  were  due  to  him.  But  it  takes 
only  a  slight  knowledge  of  affairs  in  a  new  country  to 
see  clearly  that  after  war  has  disturbed  andravageda  dis- 
trict, and  four  years  of  absence  have  wasted  the  goods 
and  scattered  the  debtors,  every  dollar  saved  would  have 
cost  in  the  saving  two  dollars'  worth  of  work  and  sacri- 
fice of  strength  and 
time.  That  his  salv- 
age was  small  and  his 
later  days  quite  devoid 
of  the  ease  and  com- 
fort which  his  hard- 
won  early  success 
should  have  guaran- 
teed him,  we  have  the 
testimony  of  a  letter 
written  by  him  August 
19,  1 82 1,  to  his  son 
John  H.,  after  he  had 
placed  the  latter  with 
the  American  (Astor's) 
Fur  Company  at  Mack- 
inaw: 

Dear  Son — I  received 
your  letter  by  the  schoon- 
er. Nothing  gives  me  more 
satisfaction  than  to  hear 
from  you  and  of  you.  It 
does  give  both  myself  and 
your  mother  a  pleasure  to 
hear  how  your  conduct  is 
talked  of  by  every  oae  that  hopes  you  every  advantage.  Let 
this  rather  stimulate  you  to  continue  the  worthy  man,  for  a 
good  name  is  better  than  wealth,  and  we  cannot  be  too  circumspect 
in  our  line  of  conduct.  Mr.  Crooks  speaks  highly  of  you  and  try 
to  continue  to  be  the  favorite  of  such  worthy  men  as  Mr.  Crooks, 
Mr.  Stewart  and  other  gentlemen  of  the  firm.  Your  mother  and  all 
of  the  family  are  well  and  send  their  love  to  you.  James*  is  here, 
and  I  am  pleased  that  his  returns  are  such  as  to  satisfy  the  firm. 

*Johu's  half-brother,  son  of  the  captive  girl,  Margaret  McKenzie. 


JOHN   HARRIS  KINZIE   (1827). 

From  a  miniature  in  possession  of  the 
Kinzie  family. 


APPENDIX  D:    THE  KINZIE  FAMILY.  165 

I  have  been  reduced  in  wages,  owing  to  the  economy  of  the 
government.  My  interprtter's  salary  is  no  more  and  I  have  but 
|ioo  to  subsist  on.  It  does  work  me  hard  sometimes  to  provide  for 
your  brothers  and  sisters  on  this  and  maintain  my  family  in  a  de- 
cent manner.  I  will  have  to  take  new  measures.  I  hate  to  change 
houses,  but  I  have  been  requested  to  wait  Conant's  arrival.  We  are 
all  mighty  busy,  as  the  treaty  commences  to-morrow  and  we  have 
hordes  of  Indians  around  us  already.  My  best  respects  to  Mr. 
Crooks  and  Stewart  and  all  the  gentlemen  of  your  house. 

Adieu.     I  am  your  loving  father, 


This  is  said  to  be  the  only  letter  of  John  Kinzie's  that 
is  known  to  exist.  (A  large  and  invaluable  collection  of 
papers  were  given  in  1877  to  the  Historical  Society  by 
John  H.  Kinzie,  and  perished  with  the  society  building 
in  the  great  fire  of  1871).  No  portrait  of  John  Kinzie 
has  ever  been  found. 

He  assisted  in  negotiating  the  treaty  of  182 1,  before 
mentioned  ;  addressing  the  Indians  to  reconcile  them  to 
it,  and  signing  it  as  a  sub- agent,  which  post  he  filled 
under  his  son-in-law,  Dr.  Alexander  Wolcott,  Indian 
agent.  In  1825  he  was  appointed  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
for  Peoria  county. 

Captain  Andreas  remarks  on  John  Kinzie's  standing 
with  the  Indians  as  follows  : 

The  esteem  in  which  Mr.  Kinzie  was  held  by  the  Indians  is 
shown  by  the  treaty  made  with  the  Pottowatomies  September  20, 
1828,  by  one  provision  of  which  they  gave  to  Eleanor  Kinzie  and 
her  four  children  by  the  late  John  Kinzie  $3,500  in  consideration 
of  the  attachment  of  the  Indians  to  her  deceased  husband,  who 
was  long  an  Indian  trader  and  who  lost  a  large  sum  in  the  trade, 
by  the  credits  given  them  and  also  by  the  destruction  of  his  prop- 
erty. The  money  is  in  lieu  of  a  tract  of  land  which  the  Indians 
gave  the  late  John  Kinzie  long  since,  and  upon  which  he  lived. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  Indians  had  a  warm  feeling 
for  the  Kinzies.  At  the  same  time  it  seems  probable  that 
the  treaty  in  question,  like  all  other  treaties,  was  care- 
fully arranged  by  the  whites  and  merely  submitted  to 
the  Indians  for  ratification.  The  Indians  did  not  give 
any  money,  all  payments  came  from  the  United  States, 


166 


THK    CHICAGO    MASSACRE    OF    l8l2. 


and  were  made  to  such  persons  (other  than  Indians)  as 
the  commissioners  thought  best  to  care  for.  As  to  the 
land  given  by  the  Indians  to  Mr.  Kinzie  and  on  which  he 
lived,   where  was  it  ?     The  Indians  had  parted  with  the 

Chicago  tract,  six 
miles  square,  nine 
years  before  Mr. 
Kinzie  arrived  at 
Fort  Dearborn.  It 
is  true  that  in  May, 
1795,  the  Ottawas 
(not  the  Pottowat- 
omies)  conveyed 
land  in  Ohio  to 
John  Kinzie  and 
Thomas  Forsyth  ; 
but  he  certainly 
never  lived  on  it. 
He  also  lived  at 
Pare  -  aux  -  Vaches, 
on  the  St.  Joseph's 
river,  from  1800  to 
1804.  It  is  possi- 
ble, though  not 
probable,   that  the  Indians  made  him  a  grant  there. 

Everyone  who  visited  the  hospitable  ' '  Kinzie  mansion' ' 
was  glad  to  do  so  again.  Let  us  follow  the  good  example. 
The  structure,  as  put  up  by  Pointe  de  Saible,  and 
passed  through  the  hands  of  Le  Mai  to  John  Kinzie,  was  a 
cabin  of  roughly  squared  logs.  In  Kinzie's  time  it  was 
beautified,  enlarged,  improved  and  surrounded  by  out- 
houses, trees,  fences,  grass  p'ats,  piazza  and  garden. 
"  The  latch  string  hung  outside  the  door,"*  and  all  were 
free  to  pull  it  and  enter.  Friend  or  stranger,  red-man  or 
white  could  come  and  go,  eat  and  drink,  sleep  and  wrake, 
listen  and  talk  as  well.  A  tale  is  told  of  two  travelers 
who  mistook  the  house  for  an  inn,  gave  orders,  asked 
questions,  praised  and  blamed,  as  one  does  who  says  to 
himself,  "  Shall  I  not  take  mine  ease  in  mine  inn  ?  "  and 


JOHN  HARRIS  KINZIE  IN   LATER   LIFE. 


*This  odd  expression  of  welcome  came  from  the  old  style  of  door-fasteniug; 
a  latch  within  lifted  by  the  hand  or  by  a  string  which  was  poked  through  a 
gimlet  hole,  so  that  it  could  be  pulled  from  the  outside.  To  lock  the  door  the 
household  simply  pulled  in  the  string  and  kept  it  inside. 


APPENDIX  d:   the  kinzie  family. 


167 


who  were  keenly  mortified  when  they  came  to  pay  their 
scot  and  found  that  there  was  none  to  pay.  In  front  (as 
the  picture  shows)  were  four  fine  poplars  ;  in  the  rear, 
two  great  cotton-woods.  The  remains  of  one  of  these 
last  named  were  visible  at  a  very  late  period.  (Who 
knows  just  how  lately  ?)  In  the  out-buildings  were  ac- 
commodated dairy,  baking-ovens,  stables  and  rooms  for 
"the  Frenchmen,"  the  Canadian  engages  who  were  then 
the  chief  subordinates  in  fur-trading,  and  whose  descend- 
ants are  now  well-known  citizens,  their  names  perpetu- 
ating their  ancestry — Beau- 
bien,  Laframboise,  Porthier, 
Mirandeau,  etc. 

Captain  Andreas  says  : 

The  Kinzie  house  was  no 
gloomy  home.  Up  to  the  very 
time  of  their  forced  removal,  the 
children  danced  to  the  sound  of 
their  father's  violin  and  the  long 
hours  of  frontier  life  were  made 
merry  with  sport  and  play. 
Later  the  primitive  court  of 
Justice  Kinzie  must  have  been 
held  in  the  "spare  room" — if 
spare  room  there  was. 


ROBERT   AI.LEN   KINZIE. 


Hurlbut,  in  his  "Chicago 
Antiquities,"  says: 

The  last  distinguished  guest  from  abroad  whom  the  Kinzies 
entertained  at  the  old  house  was  Governor  Cass;  in  the  summer  of 
1827.  This  was  during  the  Winnebago  Indian  excitement.  Gurdon 
Hubbard  says:  "While  at  breakfast  at  Mr.  Kinzie 's  house  we 
heard  singing,  faint  at  first  but  gradually  growing  louder  as  the 
singer  approached.  Mr.  Kinzie  recognized  the  leading  voice  as 
that  of  Bob  Forsyth,  and  left  the  table  for  the  piazza  of  the  house, 
where  we  all  followed.  About  where  Wells  Street  crosses,  in  plain 
sight  from  where  we  stood,  was  a  light  birch  bark  canoe,  manned 
with  thirteen  men,  rapidly  approaching,  the  men  keeping  time 
with  the  paddles  to  one  of  the  Canadian  boat-songs  ;  it  proved  to 
be  Governor  Cass  and.  his  secretary,  Robert  Forsyth,  and  they 
landed  and  soon  joined  in." 

The  visit  of  Governor  Cass  was  just  before  the  "  Win- 
nebago scare  "  of  1827.  He  it  was  that  informed  the 
lonely,  unarmed  and  defenceless  post  of  Fort  Dearborn  of 
the  Winnebago  uprising.  Gurdon  Hubbard  at  once  pro- 
posed to  ride  down  the  "  Hubbard  Trail  "  for  help.    The 


168 


THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 


others  objected  for  fear  they  might  be  attacked  before  his 
return  ;  but  it  was  finally  decided  that  he  should  go,  and 
go  he  did.  At  Danville  he  raised,  within  about  a  day, 
fifty  volunteers,  armed  and  mounted,  and  started  for  Fort 
Dearborn.  They  reached  the  Vermilion,  then  at  flood 
and  running  "bank-full"  and  very  rapidly.  The  horses 
on  being  driven  in  would  turn  and  come  back  to  shore. 
Hubbard,  provoked  at  the  delay,  threw  off  his  coat,  cry- 
ing :  "Give  me  old  Charley  !  "  Mounting  the  horse  he 
boldly  dashed   into  the    stream,  and   the   other   horses 


KINZIE   MANSION   AS   GIVEN    IN   WAU-BUN. 

crowded  after  him.  "The  water  was  so  swift  that  Old 
Charley  became  unmanageable;  but  Hubbard  dismounted 
on  the  upper  side,  seized  the  hor.se  by  the  mane,  and, 
swimming  with  his  left  hand,  guided  the  horse  in  the 
direction  of  the  opposite  shore.  We  were  afraid  he  would 
be  washed  under,  or  struck  by  his  feet  and  drowned,  but 
he  got  over.*1' 

The  brave  rescuers  arrived  and  stayed,  petted  and 
feasted  by  the  Chicagoans  of  that  day,  until  a  runner 
came  in  from  Green  Bay,  bringing  word  that  Governor 
Cass  had  made  peace  with  the  Indians. 


*See  "the  Winnebago  Scare  "  by  Iliram  W.  Beckwith,  of  Danville. 
Historical  Series  No.  10. 


Fergus' 


APPENDIX  D:    THE  KINZIE  FAMILY. 


169 


According  to  Mr.  Hurlbut,  as  the  old  master  neared 
his  end  the  old  homestead  also  went  to  decay.  The  very 
logs  must  have  been  in  a  perishing  condition  after  fifty 
years  of  service,  and  the  lake  sand,  driven  by  the  lake 
breezes,  piled  itself  up  against  the  north  and  east  sides. 
Then,  too,  the  standard  of  comfort  had  changed.  Son- 
in-law  Wolcott  had  rooms  in  the  brick  building  of  the 
unoccupied  fort.     Colonel  Beaubien  had  a  frame  house 


Gt'RDON   SALTONSTALL   HUBBARD,    IN   MIDDLE   LIFE. 

close  to  the  fort's  south  wall  (now  Michigan  Avenue  and 
River  Streets),  and  thither  the  Kinzies  moved.  What 
more  natural  than  that  the  ancient  tree,  as  it  tottered  to  its 
fall,  should  lean  over  toward  the  young  saplings  that  had 
sprung  up  at  its  foot  ?     It  is  the  way  of  the  world. 

It  was  in  1827  that  Mr.  Kinzie,  and  whatever  then 
formed  his  household,  quitted  the  historical  log  house 
for  the  last  time.     In   1829,  it  was   (says  Andreas)  used 


170  THK    CHICAGO    MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

for  a  while  by  Anson  N.  Taylor  as  a  store.  In  March, 
1 83 1,  Mr.  Bailey  lived  in  it  and  probably  made  it  the 
post  office,  its  first  location  in  Chicago,  as  he  was  the 
first  postmaster.  The  mail  was  then  brought  from  Detroit 
on  horseback,  about  twice  a  month. 
Captain  Andreas  says  : 

After  183 1  and  1832,  when  Mark  Noble  occupied  it  with  his 
family,  there  is  no  record  of  its  being  inhabited.  Its  decaying  logs 
were  used  by  the  Indians  and  immigrants  for  fuel,  and  the  drifting 
sands  of  Lake  Michigan  was  fast  piled  over  its  remains.  No  one 
knows  when  it  finally  disappeared,  but  with  the  growth  of  the  new 
town,  this  relic  of  the  early  day  of  Chicago  passed  from  sight  to  be 
numbered  among  the  things  that  were. 

Mrs.  Robert  Kinzie  says  now  (1893)  that  she  is  sure 
that  the  house  was  standing  when  she  was  married  in  the 
fort,  in  1834,  and  she  thinks  long  afterward  She  scouts 
the  idea  that  those  solid  logs  were  used  by  the  Indians 
or  immigrants  for  fuel. 

The  following  account  of  Mr.  Kinzie' s  death  was 
learned  from  Mr.  Gurdon  S.  Hubbard  :  "  He  remained 
in  full  vigor  of  health  in  both  body  and  mind,  till  he  had 
a  slight  attack  of  apoplexy,  after  which  his  health  con- 
tinued to  decline  until  his  death,  which  took  place  in  a 
few  months,  at  the  residence  of  his  son-in-law,  Dr.  Wol- 
cott,  who  then  lived  in  the  brick  building,  formerly  used 
as  the  officers'  quarters  in  the  fort.  Here,  while  on  a 
brief  visit  to  Mrs.  Wolcott  (Ellen  Marion  Kinzie),  he 
was  suddenly  attacked  with  apoplexy.  Mr.  Hubbard, 
then  living  in  Mr.  Kinzie's  family,  was  sent  for,  and  on 
coming  into  the  presence  of  the  dying  man  he  found  him 
in  convulsions  on  the  floor,  in  the  parlor,  his  head  sup- 
ported by  his  daughter.  Mr.  Hubbard  raised  him  to  a 
sitting  position  and  thus  supported  him  till  he  drew  his 
last  breath.  The  funeral  service  took  place  in  the  fort 
and  the  last  honors  due  to  the  old  pioneer  were  paid  with 
impressive  respect  by  the  few  inhabitants  of  the  place." 

Mr.  Kinzie's  remains  were  first  buried  in  the  fort  bury- 
ing ground  on  the  lake  shore  south  of  the  old  fort  (about 
Michigan  Avenue  and  Washington  Street)  whence  they 
were  later  removed  to  a  plot  west  of  the  present  water- 
works (Chicago  Avenue  and  Tower  Place)  and  finally  to 
Graceland,  where  they  now  rest. 


APPENDIX  D:    THE  KIxNZIE  FAMILY. 


171 


Unfortunately  there  exists  no  portrait  of  John  Kinzie. 
The  portrait  of  John  H.  Kinzie,  taken  from  a  miniature, 
and  that  of  his  wife,  the  author  of  Wau-Bun,  are  kindly 
furnished  by  their  daughter,  Mrs.  Nellie  Kinzie  Gordon. 
There  has  also  been  copied  an  oil  portrait  of  the  last 
named  lady  herself,  painted  by  Healy  in  1857,  when  she 
was  about  to  quit  her  native  city  for  her  home  in  Savan- 
nah, Georgia,  which  departure  was  a  loss  still  remem- 
bered and  regretted  by  her  many  Chicago  friends  and 

—  admirers;  in  other 
words  by  all  of  the 
Chicago  of  1857  which 
survives  to  1893. 

A  fourth  portrait 
of  this  honored  branch 
of  the  pioneer  stock 
is  that  of  the  son, 
John  H.  Kinzie,  Jr., 
who  died  for  his 
country  in  a  manner 
which  must  endear 
his  memory  to  every 
Union  loving  patriot. 
The  following  touch- 
ing sketch  of  his  life 
and  death  is  contribut- 
ed by  a  near  relative 
of  the  brave  young 
martyr. 

John  Harris  Kinzie, 
Jr.,  was  born  in  1838.  He  was  educated  as  a  civil  engi- 
neer at  the  Polytechnic  Institute  of  Ann  Arbor,  Mich. 
He  served  in  the  navy  during  the  war  and  met  his  tragic 
fate  in  1862,  while  master's  mate  on  the  gunboat  Mound 
City,  commanded  by  Admiral  Davis. 

While  attacking  a  fort  on  the  White  River,  a  shot 
from  the  fort's  battery  penetrated  the  boiler  of  the  Mound 
City.  In  the  terrific  explosion  that  followed,  young 
Kinzie  and  more  than  ninety  others  were  scalded  and 
blown  overboard. 

The  hospital  boat  of  the  fleet  immediately  set  out  to 
rescue  the  wounded  men.     As  Kinzie  struck  out  for  the 


MRS.   NELLIE  (KINZIk)   GORDON, 


172 


THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 


boat,  his  friend  Augustus  Taylor,  of  Cairo,  called  out  to 
him  to  keep  out  of  the  range  of  the  fort  as  the  sharp- 
shooters were  evidently  picking  off  the  wounded  men  in 
the  water.  This  proved  to  be  true;  young  Kinzie  was 
shot  through  the  legs  and  arms  by  minie  balls  as  he  was 
being  lifted  into  the  boat. 

He  soon  heard  the  shouts  of  his  comrades;  and  turn- 
ing    to     one    of    his 
friends,  he  said: 

"We  have  taken 
the  fort.  I  am  ready- 
to  die  now." 

He  sank  rapidly 
and  died  the  following 
morning,  June  18, 
just  as  the  sun  was 
rising.  He  left  a 
young  wife  barely 
eighteen  years  old,  a 
daughter  of  Judge 
James,  of  Racine,  Wis- 
consin, and  his  own 
little  daughter  was 
born  three  months 
after  his  death. 

It  was  necessary  to 
put  a  guard  over  the 
person  of  Colonel  Fry 
(who  was  captured  with  the  fort)  to  save  him  from  being 
sacrificed  to  the  indignation  the  men  felt  against  him  for 
having  ordered  his  sharp-shooters  to  pick  off  the  scalded 
men  and  shoot  them  in  the  water. 


JOHN   HARRIS   KINZIE,   JR 


APPENDIX  E. 


WILLIAM   WELLS  AND   REBEKAH  WELLS   HEALD. 


RATITUDE  to  our  first  hero 
and  martyr  calls  for  a  some- 
what extended  study  of  his 
life,  and  it  will  be  found  inter- 
esting enough  to  repay  the  at- 
tention. 
Colonel  Samuel  Wells  and  his  brother 
Captain  William  Wells  were  Kentuck- 
ians;  the  family  being  said  to  have  come 
from  Virginia.  William,  when  twelve 
years  old,  was  stolen  by  the  Indians 
from  the  residence  of  Hon.  Nathaniel 
Pope,  where  both  brothers  seem  to 
have  been  living.  He  was  adopted  by 
Me-che-kan-nah-qua,  or  little  Turtle,  a 
chief  of  the  Miamis,  lived  in  his  house 
and  married  his  daughter  Wah-nan-ga- 
peth,  by  whom  he  had  several  children,  of  whom  the 
following  left  children  : 

Pe-me  zqh-quah  (Rebekah)  married  Captain  Hackley, 
of  Fort  Wayne,  leaving  Ann  and  John  Hackley,  her 
children. 

Ah-mah-qua-zah-quah  (a  '  'sweet  breeze" — Mary)  born 
at  Fort  Wayne  May  10,  1800,  married  Judge  James  Wol- 
c  >tt  March  8,  1821  ;  died  at  Maumee  City,  (now  South 
Toledo,)  O.,  Feb.  19,  1834,  leaving  children  as  follows  : 
William  Wells  Wolcott,  Toledo  ;  Mary  Ann  (Wolcott) 
Gilbert,  South  Toledo;  Henry  Clay  Wolcott,  South 
Toledo,  and  James  Madison  Wolcott,  South  Toledo. 

Jane  (Wells)  Grigg,  living  at  Peru,  Indiana ;  has 
children. 

Yelberton  P.  Wells,  St.  Louis,  died  leaving  one  child. 

173 


174  THK   CHICAGO    MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

William  fought  on  the  side  of  the  Indians  in  the  cam- 
paign of  1790  and  1 79 1,  when  they  defeated  the  Ameri- 
cans under  Generals  Harmer  and  Saint  Clair.  The  story 
of  his  reclamation,  as  told  by  Rebekah  (Wells)  Heald  to 
her  son  Darius,  and  repeated  by  him  to  a  stenographer, 
in  my  presence,  in  1892,  is  quite  romantic. 

Rebekah  was  daughter  of  Samuel  Wells,  elder  brother 
of  William,  and  was  therefore  niece  of  the  latter.  She 
must  have  been  born  between  1780  and  1790.  We  learn 
from  the  story  of  her  son,  the  Hon.  Darius  Heald,  as 
follows  : 

She  was  fond  of  telling  the  story  of  her  life,  and  her  children 
and  her  friends  were  never  tired  of  listening  to  it.  [Her  son  thinks 
he  has  heard  her  tell  it  a  hundred  times.]  She  would  begin  away 
back  in  her  girlhood,  spent  in  the  country  about  Louisville,  Ken- 
tucky, when  her  father,  Colonel  Samuel  Wells,  was  living  there  ;  and 
tell  how  they  all  wanted  uncle  William  Wells,  whom  they  called 
their  "Indian  uncle,"  to  leave  the  Indians  who  had  stolen  him  in 
his  boyhood,  and  come  home  and  belong  to  his  white  relations. 
He  hung  back  for  years,  and  even  at  last,  when  he  agreed  to  visit 
them,  made  the  proviso  that  he  should  be  allowed  to  bring  along 
an  Indian  escort  with  him,  so  that  he  should  not  be  compelled  to 
stay  with  them  if  he  did  not  want  to. 

Young  Rebekah  Wells  was  the  one  who  had  been  chosen  to  go 
to  the  Indian  council  with  her  father,  and  persuade  her  uncle 
William  to  come  and  visit  his  old  home  ;  she,  being  a  girl,  very 
likely  had  more  influence  with  him  than  any  of  the  men  could 
have  had.  William  Wells  was  at  that  time  living  a  wild  Indian 
life,  roaming  up  and  down  the  Wabash  river,  and  between  the 
lakes  and  the  Ohio.  Probabl}'  the  place  where  the  battle  of  Tip- 
picanoe  was  fought,  in  181 1,  near  the  present  site  of  La  Fayette, 
Indiana,  was  pretty  near  the  center  of  his  regular  stamping 
ground. 

After  much  hesitation  he  consented  to  get  together  a  party  of 
braves,  somewhere  from  seventy-five  to  a  hundred,  and  visit  his 
relatives.  Little  Turtle,  whose  daughter  he  had  married,  was 
along,  very  likely  commanding  the  escort.  They  went  down  to 
the  falls  of  the  Ohio  river,  about  opposite  Louisville,  and  camped, 
while  William  Wells,  with  a  picked  band  of  twenty-five,  crossed 
the  river  and  met  with  his  own  people.  Then  the  question  arose 
as  to  whether  he  was  the  brother  of  Colonel  Samuel  Wells,  and  he 
asked  to  be  taken  to  the  place  where  he  was  said  to  have  been  cap- 
tured, to  see  if  he  could  remember  the  circumstances.  When  he 
reached  there,  he  looked  about  and  pointed  in  a  certain  direction 
and  asked  if  there  was  a  pond  there  ;  and  they  said  :  "Well,  let's 
go  and  see."  Sc  they  went  in  the  direction  indicated,  and  to  be 
sure  they  saw  the  pond  ;  and  he  said  that  he  could  remember  that 
pond.  Then  he  saw  a  younger  brother  present,  whom  he  had  acci- 
dentally wounded  in  the  head  as  a  child,  and  he  said  to  his  brother: 


APPENDIX  E:    WELLS  AND  HEALD  FAMILIES.        175 

"Now  if  you  are  my  brother  there  ought  to  be  a  mark  on  the  back 
of  your  head,  where  I  hit  you  with  a  stone  one  day;"  and  the 
brother  held  up  his  head,  and  William  lifted  the  hair  and  found 
the  scar,  and  he  said  :  "Yes,  I  am  your  brother." 

William  was  now  convinced  for  the  first  time  that  he  was  the 
brother  of  Colonel  Samuel  Wells,  but  he  went  back  with  his  Indian 
friends,  his  father-in-law,  Little  Turtle,  and  the  rest,  and  it  was  not 
until  sometime  later  that  he  told  Little  Turtle  that,  although  he 
had  fought  tor  his  Indian  friends  all  his  life,  the  time  had  now 
come  when  he  was  going  home  to  fight  for  his  own  flesh  and  blood. 
It  was  under  a  big  tree  on  the  banks  of  the  Miami  that  he  had  ihis 
talk,  and  he  pointed  to  the  sun  and  said:  "Till  the  sun  goes  up 
in  the  middle  of  the  sky  we  are  friends.  After  that  you  can  kill 
me  if  you  want  to."  Still  they  always  remained  friends,  and 
agreed  that  if  in  war,  if  one  could  find  out  on  which  side  of  the 
army  the  other  was  put,  he  would  change  positions  so  as  not  to  be 
likely  to  meet  the  other  in  battle  ;  and  if  one  recognized  the  other 
while  fighting,  he  would  never  aim  to  hit  him.  They  also  had  the 
privilege  of  meeting  and  talking  to  each  other,  it  being  understood 
that  nothing  was  to  be  said  about  the  opposing  numbers  of  their 
armies.  They  were  not  to  act  as  spies  but  simply  to  meet  each 
other  as  friends. 

It  was  at  about  the  time  when  General  Wayne,  "  Mad 
Anthony,"  came  into  command  that  Wells  left  his  red 
friends  and  began  to  serve  on  the  side  of  his  own  flesh 
and  blood.  He  was  made  captain  of  a  company  of  scouts, 
and  must  have  done  good  service,  for,  in  1798,  he  accom- 
panied his  father-in-law,  Little  Turtle,  to  Philadelphia, 
where  the  Indian  (and  probably  Wells  also)  was  presented 
to  President  Washington,  and  in  1803  we  find  him  back 
at  Chicago  signing  an  Indian  trader's  license:  "W.  H. 
Harrison,  Governor  of  Indian  Territory,  by  William 
Wells,  agent  at  Indian  affairs."  Little  Turtle  lived 
usually  at  Fort  Wayne.  Of  him  his  friend  John  John- 
ston, of  Piqua,  Ohio,  said  : 

"He  was  a  man  of  great  wit,  humor  and  vivacity,  fond  of  the 
company  of  gentlemen  and  delighted  in  good  eating.  When  I 
knew  him  he  had  two  wives  living  with  him  under  the  same  roof 
in  the  greatest  harmony.  This  distinguished  chief  died  at  Fort 
Wayne  of  a  confirmed  case  of  gout,  brought  on  by  high  living,  and 
was  buried  with  military  honors  by  the  troops  of  the  United  States. 

He  died  July  14,  1812,  and  was  buried  on  the  west 
bank  of  the  river  at  Fort  Wayne.  His  portrait  hangs  on 
the  walls  of  the  War  Department  at  Washington. 

In  1809  Captain  Wells  took  his  niece,  Rebekah,  with 
him  to  Fort  Wayne  on  a  visit.     Captain  Heald  was  then 


176  THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

on  duty  at  Fort  Wayne,  and  it  was  doubtless  there  that 
the  love-making  took  place  which  led  to  the  marriage  of 
the  two  young  people  in  1811. 

The  following  interesting  bits  concerning  Captain 
Wells  are  taken  from  a  letter  written  by  A.  H.  Edwards 
to  Hon.  John  Wentworth  (Fergus'  Hist.  Series  No.  16), 
the  remainder  of  which  letter  is  given  later  in  this  volume. 
(See  Appendix  G.) 

Captain  Wells,  after  being  captured  by  the  Indians  when  a  boy, 
remained  with  them  until  the  treaty  with  the  Miamis.  Somewhere 
about  the  year  1795  he  was  a  chief  and  an  adopted  brother  of  the 
celebrated  chief  Little  Turtle.  Captain  Wells  signed  the  marriage 
certificate,  as  officiating  magistrate,  of  my  father  and  mother  at 
Fort  Wayne,  June,  1805.     The  certificate  is  now  in  my  possession. 

"Fort  Wayne,  4th  June. 
"  I  do  hereby  certify  that  I  joined  Dr.  Abraham  Edwards  and 
Ruthy  Hunt  in  the  holy  bonds  of  matrimony,  on  the  third  instant, 
according  to  the  law. 

' '  Given  under  my  Hand  and  Seal,  the  day  and  year  above  written. 

"\Viu,iam  WEU+S,  Esq." 

*  *  *  Captain  Wells  urged  Major  Ileald  not  to  leave  the  fort, 
as  he  did  not  like  the  way  the  Indians  acted,  and  was  well  ac- 
quainted with  all  their  movements  as  learned  from  his  Indian 
allies,  who  deserted  him  the  moment  the  firing  commenced.  Cap- 
tain N.  Heald's  story  is  as  I  heard  it  from  the  mouth  of  one  who 
saw  it  all,  the  girl  and  her  mother,  the  one  living  in  our  family  for 
many  years,  and  the  mother  in  Detroit.     Their  name   was  Cooper. 

Captain  Wells,  soon  after  leaving  the  Indians,  was  appointed 
interpreter  at  the  request  of  General  Wayne,  and  was  with  him  in 
his  campaign  against  the  Indians  as  captain  of  a  company  of  spies, 
and  many  thrilling  accounts  were  given  me  of  his  daring  and 
remarkable  adventures  as  such,  related  by  one  who  received  them 
from  his  own  lips,  and  in  confirmation  of  one  of  his  adventures 
pointed  at  an  Indian  present,  and  said:  "That  Indian,"  says  he, 
"belongs  to  me,  and  sticks  to  me  like  a  brother,"  and  then  told 
how  he  captured  him  with  his  rifle  on  his  shoulder.  This  Indian 
was  the  one  who  gave  Mrs.  Wells  the  first  intimation  of  his  death 
and  then  disappeared,  supposed  to  have  returned  to  his  people. 

Captain  William  Wells  was  acting  Indian  Agent  and  Justice  of 
the  Peace  at  Fort  Wayne  at  the  time  he  married  my  father  and 
mother,  and  was  considered  a  remarkably  brave  and  resolute  man. 
I  will  give  you  a  sketch  of  one  of  his  feats  as  told  me  by  my  mother, 
who  was  present  and  witnessed  it  all.  The  Indians  were  collected 
at  Fort  Wayne  on  the  way  for  the  purpose  of  meeting  the  Miamis 
and  other  Indians  in  council.  While  camped  there  they  invited 
the  officers  of  the  fort  to  come  out  and  witness  a  grand  dance,  and 
other  performances,  previous  to  their  departure  for  the  Indian  con- 
ference. Wells  advised  the  commander  of  the  fort  not  to  go,  as  he 
did  not  like  the  actions   of  the  Indians  ;  but  his   advice  was  over- 


APPENDIX  E:    WELLS  AND  HEALD  FAMILIES.         177 

ruled,  and  all  hands  went  out,  including  the  officers'  ladies.  But 
the  troops  in  the  fort  were  on  the  alert,  their  guns  were  loaded  and 
sentries  were  doubled,  as  it  was  in  the  evening.  A  very  large  tent 
was  provided  for  the  purpose  of  the  grand  dance.  After  many 
preliminary  dances  and  talks,  a  large  and  powerful  chief  arose 
and  commenced  his  dance  around  the  ring,  and  made  many  flour- 
ishes with  his  tomahawk.  Then  he  came  up  to  Wells,  who  stood 
next  my  mother,  and  spoke  in  Indian  and  made  demonstrations 
with  his  tomahawk  that  looked  dangerous,  and  then  took  his  seat. 
But  no  sooner  than  he  did  so  Wells  gave  one  of  the  most  unearthly 
war-whoops  she  ever  heard,  and  sprang  up  into  the  air  as  high  as 
her  head,  and  picked  up  the  jaw  bone  of  a  horse  or  ox  that  lay 
near  by,  and  went  around  the  ring  in  a  more  vigorous  and  artistic 
Indian  style  than  had  been  seen  that  evening  ;  and  wound  up  by 
going  up  to  the  big  Indian  and  flourishing  his  jaw-bone,  and  told 
him  that  he  had  killed  more  Indians  than  white  men,  and  had 
killed  one  that  looked  just  like  him,  and  he  believed  it  was  his 
brother,  only  much  better  looking  and  a  better  brave  than  he  was. 
The  Indians  were  perfectly  taken  by  surprise.  Wells  turned  to  the 
officers  and  told  them  to  be  going.  He  hurried  them  off  to  the 
fort,  and  had  all  hands  on  the  alert  during  the  night.  When  ques- 
tioned as  to  his  action  and  what  he  said,  he  replied  that  he  had 
told  the  Indians  what  I  have  related.  Then  he  enquired  of  those 
present  if  they  did  not  see  that  the  Indians  standh  g  on  the  oppo- 
site side  of  the  tent  had  their  rifles  wrapped  up  in  their  blankets. 
"If  I  had  not  done  just  as  I  had,  and  talked  to  that  Indian  as  I 
did,  we  wTould  all  have  been  shot  in  five  minutes  ;  but  my  actions 
required  a  council,  as  their  plans  were,  as  they  supposed,  frus- 
trated, and  that  the  troops  would  be  down  on  them  at  the  first 
hostile  move  they  made."  He  saw  the  game  wThen  he  first  went  in, 
as  his  Indian  training  taught  him,  and  he  waited  just  for  the 
demonstration  that  was  made  as  the  signal  for  action.  Wells  saw 
no  time  w7as  to  be  lost,  and  made  good  his  resolve,  and  the  big 
Indian  cowed  under  the  demonstration  of  Wells.  My  mother  said 
he  looked  as  if  he  expected  Wells  to  make  an  end  of  him  for  what 
he  had  said  to  Wells  in  his  dance.  "  I  had  to  meet  bravado  with 
bravado,  and  I  think  I  beat,"  said  Wells.  You  could  see  it  in 
the  countenances  of  all  the  Indians.  The  same  advice  given  to 
Heald,  if  attended  to,  would  have  saved  the  massacre  of  Fort 
Dearborn.     *    *    *    *  A.  H.  Edwards. 

James  Madison  Wolcott,  grandson  of  Captain  Wells 
(through  Ah-mah-quah-zah  quah,  who  married  Judge 
James  Woleott)  wrote  to  Mr.  Went  worth  as  follows  : 

We  are  proud  of  our  Little  Turtle  [Indian]  blood  and  of  our 
Captain  Wells  blood.  We  try  to  keep  up  the  customs  of  our  an- 
cestors, and  dress  occasionally  in  Indian  costumes.  We  take  no 
exception  when  people  speak  of  our  Indian  parentage.  We  take 
pleasure  in  sending  you  the  tomahawk  which  Captain  William 
Wells  had  at  the  time  of  his  death,  and  which  was  brought  to  his 
family  by  an  Indian  who  was  in  the  battle.     We  also  have  a  dress- 


178  THE    CHICAGO    MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

sword  which  was  presented  to  him  by  General  W.  H.  Harrison,  and 
a  great  many  books  which  he  had  ;  showing  that  even  when  he 
lived  among  the  Indians,  he  was  trying  to  improve  himself.  He 
did  all  he  could  to  educate  his  children.  Captain  Wells,  in  the  year 
of  his  death,  sent  to  President  Madison,  at  Little  Turtle's  request,  the 
iutrepretation  of  the  speech  that  that  chief  made  to  General  W. 
H.  Harrison,  January  25,  181 2. 

Captain  Heald  never  got  rid  of  the  effect  of  his  wound. 
The  bullet  remained  embedded  in  his  hip  and  doubtless 
is  in  his  coffin.  He  resigned  shortly  after  the  war,  and 
the  family  (in  1817)  settled  at  Stockland,  Missouri.  The 
new  name  of  the  place,  O' Fallon,  recalls  the  fact  that  the 
well  known  Colonel  O' Fallon,  of  St.  Louis,  was  an  old 
friend  of  the  family,  and  himself  redeemed  the  things 
which  the  Indians  had  captured  at  the  massacre  (the 
same  articles  now  cherished  as  relics  of  the  historic  event) 
and  sent  them  to  Colonel  Samuel  Wells  at  Louisville, 
where  they  arrived  during  the  interval  when  all  supposed 
that  Nathan  and  Rebekah  had  perished  with  the  members 
of  the  garrison  and  their  fellow-sufferers. 

Among  the  articles  captured  by  the  Indians  and,  after 
their  transportation  from  Chicago  to  Peoria  and  from 
Peoria  to  Saint  Louis,  bought  by  Colonel  O' Fallon  and 
sent  to  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio  (Louisville)  to  Samuel 
Wells,  are  the  following,  all  of  which  were  brought  to 
Chicago  by  the  Hon.  Darius  Heald,  exhibited  to  his  rela- 
tives (the  family  of  Gen.  A.  L.  Chetlain),  and  their 
friends,  and  here  reproduced. 

Captain  Heald's  sword. 

A  shawl-pin  he  wore  which,  when  recovered,  had  been  bent  to 
serve  as  a  nose-ring. 

Part  of  his  uniform  coat,  which  seems  to  have  been  divided 
among  his  captors. 

Six  silver  table-spoons  and  one  soup-ladle,  each  marked  "N.  R. 
H.,"  doubtless  the  wedding-present  made  by  Colonel  Samuel  Wells 
to  Nathan  and  Rebekah  Heald. 

A  hair  brooch  marked  "  S.  W.,"  supposed  to  contain  the  hair  of 
Samuel  Wells. 

A  finger-ring  marked  "  R.  W."  (Probably  one  of  the  girlish 
treasures  of  Rebeksh  Wells.) 

A  fine  tortoise-shell  comb,  cut  somewhat  in  the  shape  of  an 
eagle's  beak  and  having  silver  ornaments  representing  the  bird's 
eye,  nostril,  etc. 

Mr.  Wentworth  further  says  : 

In  the  biographical  sketches  of  the  members  of  the  Corinthian 
Lodge  of  Masons,  at  Concord,  Mass. ,  I  find  the  following  : 


DARIU:    HEALD,  WITH  SWORD  AND  OTHER  MASSACRE  RELICS. 

179 


180  TH£   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    1 8 1 2. 

Nathan  Heald,  initiated  in  1797,  died  at  Stockland  (now  O'Fal- 
lon)  in  St.  Charles  County,  Missouri,  where  he  had  resided  some 
years,  in  1832,  aged  57  years.  He  was  born  in  Ipswich,  N.  H.,  Sep- 
tember 29,  1775,  was  the  third  son  of  Colonel  Thomas  and  Sybel 
(Adams)  Heald  and  in  early  life  joined  the  U.  S.  Army.  Mrs. 
Maria  (Heald)  Edwards,  of  this  city,  born  at  Ipswich,  N.  H.,  in 
1803,  mother  of  Mrs.  General  Chetlain,  was  the  eldest  child  of  his 
brother,  Hon.  Thomas  Heald,  one  of  the  Associate  Judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Alabama.     (Fergus'  Hist.  Series  No.  16.) 

A  considerable  part  of  Captain  Heald' s  first  report  of 
the  massacre  appears  in  our  old  friend  Niles'  Weekly  Reg- 
ister, Nov.  7,  181 2.  (I  have  quoted  it,  to  a  great  extent, 
in  connection  with  the  story  of  the  event.) 

Extract  of  a  letter  from  Captain  Heald,  late  commandant  at 
Fort  Chicago,  dated  at  Pittsburg,  October  23,  1812  : 

On  the  9th  of  August,  I  received  orders  from  General  Hull  to 
evacuate  the  post  and  proceed  with  my  command  to  Detroit,  by 
land,  leaving  it  at  my  discretion  to  dispose  of  the  public  property 
as  I  thought  proper.  The  neighboring  Indians  got  the  information 
as  soon  as  I  did,  and  came  in  from  all  quarters  to  receive  goods  in 
the  factory-store,  which  they  understood  were  to  be  given  to  them. 
On  the  13th,  Captain  Wells,  of  Fort  Wayne,  arrived  with  about 
thirty  Miamis,  for  the  purpose  of  escorting  us  in,  by  request  of 
General  Hull.  On  the  14th  I  delivered  to  the  Indians  all  the  goods 
of  the  factory-store,  and  a  considerable  quantity  of  provisions 
which  we  could  not  take  with  1  is.  The  surplus  arms  and  ammuni- 
tion I  thought  proper  to  destrc  y,  fearing  they  would  make  bad  use 
of  it,  if  put  in  their  possession.  I  also  destroyed  all  liquor  on  hand 
soon  after  they  began  to  collect. 

The  collection  was  unusually  large  for  that  place,  but  they  con- 
ducted with  the  strictest  propriety  until  after  I  left  the  fort.  On  the 
15th,  at  9  A.  M  ,  we  commenced  our  march.  A  part  of  the  Miamis 
were  detached  in  front,  the  remainder  in  our  rear,  as  guards,  under 
the  direction  of  Captain  Wells.  The  situation  of  the  country 
rendered  it  necessary  for  us  to  take  the  beach,  with  the  lake  on  our 
left  and  a  high  sand-bank  on  our  right  at  about  one  hundred  yards 
distance.  We  had  proceeded  about  a  mile  and  a  half  when  it  was 
discovered  that  the  Indians  were  prepared  to  attack  us  from  behind 
the  bank.  I  immediately  marched  up,  with  the  company,  to  the 
top  of  the  bank,  when  the  action  commenced ;  after  firing  one 
round  we  charged,  and  the  Indians  gave  way  in  front  and  joined 
those  on  our  flanks.  In  about  fifteen  minutes  they  got  possession 
of  all  our  horses,  provisions,  and  baggage  of  every  description, 
and,  finding  the  Miamis  did  not  assist  us,  I  drew  off  the  men  I  had 
left  and  took  possession  of  a  small  elevation  in  the  open  prairie, 
out  of  shot  of  the  bank  or  any  other  cover.  The  Indians  did  not 
follow  me  but  assembled  in  a  body  on  the  top  of  the  bank,  and 
after  some  private  consultation  among  themselves,  made  signs  for 
me  to  approach  them.  I  advanced  toward  them  alone  and  was  met 
by  one  of  the  Pottowatomie  chiefs  called  Black-bird,  with  an  inter- 


APPENDIX  E:    WELLS  AND  HEALD  FAMILIES.        181 

preter.  "After  shaking  hands,  he  requested  me  to  surrender,  prom- 
ising to  spare  the  lives  of  all  the  prisoners.  On  a  few  moments 
consideration  I  concluded  it  would  be  most  prudent  to  comply  with 
his  request,  although  I  did  not  put  entire  confidence  in  his  promise. 
After  delivering  up  our  arms  we  were  taken  back  to  their  encamp- 
ment near  the  fort,  and  distributed  among  the  different  tribes. 

The  next  morning  they  set  fire  to  the  fort  and  left  the  place, 
taking  the  prisoners  with  them.  Their  number  of  warriors  was 
between  four  and  five  hundred,  mostly  from  the  Pottowatomie 
nation,  and  their  loss,  from  the  best  information  I  could  get,  was 
about  fifteen.  Our  strength  was  about  fifty-four  regulars  and 
twelve  militia,  out  of  which  twenty-six  regulars  and  all  the  militia 
were  killed  in  the  action,  with  two  women  and  twelve  children. 
Ensign  George  Ronan  and  Dr.  Isaac  Van  Voorhis  of  my  company, 
with  Captain  Wells  of  Fort  Wayne,  to  my  great  sorrow,  are  num- 
bered among  the  dead.  Lieutenant  Linai  T.  Helm,  with  twenty- 
five  non-commissioned  officers  and  privates  and  eleven  women  and 
children,  were  prisoners  when  we  separated. 

Mrs.  Heald  and  myself  were  taken  to  the  mouth  of  the  river  St. 
Joseph,  and,  being  both  badly  wounded,  were  permitted  to  reside 
with  Mr.  Burnett,  an  Indian  trader.  In  a  few  days  after  our  arrival 
there,  the  Indians  went  off  to  take  Fort  Wayne,  and  in  their 
absence  I  engaged  a  Frenchman  to  take  us  to  Miehilimackinac  by 
water,  where  I  gave  myself  up  as  a  prisoner  of  war,  with  one  of  my 
sergeants.  The  commanding  officer,  Captain  Roberts,  offered  me 
every  assistance  in  his  power  to  render  our  situation  comfortable 
while  we  remained  there,  and  to  enable  us  to  proceed  on  our  jour- 
ney. To  him  I  gave  my  parole  of  honor,  and  came  to  Detroit  and 
reported  myself  to  Colonel  Proctor,  who  gave  us  a  passage  to  Buf- 
falo ,  from  that  place  I  came  by  way  of  Presque-Isle,  and  arrived 
here  yesterday.  Nathan  Heald. 


The  following  letter  from  Captain  Heald,  written  three 
years  after  taking  up  his  residence  in  Missouri,  speaks 
for  itself : 

St.  Charles,  Missouri  Territory,  May  18th,  1820. 

Sir: — I  had  the  honor  of  receiving  your  letter  of  the 
30th  of  March,  a  few  days  since.  The  garrison  at  Chi- 
cago commanded  by  me  at  the  time  Detroit  was  sur- 
rendered by  General  Hull,  were  every  man  paid  up  to 
the.  30th  of  June,  1812,  inclusive,  officers'  subsistence  and 
forage  included. 

The  last  payment  embraced  nine  months,  and  was 
made  by  myself  as  the  agent  of  Mr.  Eastman,  but  I  cannot 
say  what  the  amount  was.  Every  paper  relative  to  that 
transaction  was  soon  after  lost.  I  am,  however,  confident 
that  there  was  no  deposit  with  me  to  pay  the  garrison  for 
the  three  months  subsequent  to  the  30th  of  June,  18 12. 


182  THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OP    l8l2. 

The  receipt-rolls  which  I  had  taken  from  Mr.  Eastman, 
together  with  the  balance  of  money  in  my  hands,  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  Indians  on  the  15th  of  August,  18 12, 
when  the  troops  under  my  command  were  defeated  near 
Chicago;  what  became  of  them  afterwards  I  know  not.  I 
have  no  papers  in  my  possession  relative  to  that  garrison 
excepting  one  muster-roll  for  the  month  of  May,  181 2. 
By  it  I  find  that  the  garrison  there  consisted  of  one  cap- 
tain, one  2nd  lieutenant,  one  ensign,  one  surgeon's  mate, 
four  sergeants,  two  corporals,  four  musicians  and  forty- 
one  privates.  I  cannot  determine  what  the  strength  of 
the  garrison  was  at  any  other  time  during  the  years  181 1 
and  1812,  but  it  was  on  the  decline.  Monthly  returns 
were  regularly  submitted  to  the  Adjutant  and  Inspector- 
General's  office,  at  Washington  City,  which,  I  suppose, 
can  be  found  at  any  time. 

I  am  respectfully,  sir,  your  most  obedient  servant, 

PETER  HAGNER,  Esq.,  ATHAN   HEAW5- 

3rd  Auditor's  Office,   Treasury 
Department,  Washington  City. 


This  brings  up  to  the  mind  of  every  officer  the  terrors 
of  the  '  'Auditors  of  the  Treasury. ' '  Not  victory  or  defeat, 
not  wounds  or  even  death — nay,  not  old  Time  himself 
can  clear  a  soldier  from  the  terrible  ordeal  of  the  '  'Ac- 
counting Department."  Poor  Heald  had  evidently  been 
asked:  "Where  is  the  money  which  was  in  your  hands 
before  the  savages  surrounded  you,  slaughtered  your 
troops,  wounded  yourself  and  your  wife,  massacred  the 
civilians  under  your  care,  tortured  to  death  your  wounded 
and  burned  your  fort  ?  "  At  the  same  time  the  ordnance 
bureau  doubtless  asked  what  had  become  of  the  arms, 
ammunition,  accoutrements  and  cooking  utensils ;  the 
commissary  bureau  asked  after  the  stores  and  the  quarter- 
master's bureau  after  the  equippage.  Scores  of  thousands 
of  volunteer  officers  in  the  Union  war  found  to  their  cost 
that  their  fighting  was  the  only  thing  which  the  War  De- 
partment kept  no  record  of ;  that  their  account-keeping 
and  reporting  was  what  must  be  most  carefully  looked 
after  if  they  would  free  themselves,  their  heirs,  executors 
and  assigns,  from  imperishable  obligations.     For  the  gov- 


APPENDIX  E:    WELLS  AND  HEALD  FAMILIES. 


183 


ernment  knows  no  "statute  of  limitations" — takes  no 
account  of  the  lapse  of  time  any  more  than  does  Nature  in 
her  operations.  "Contra  regem  tempus  11011  occurret." 
Yet,  paradoxical  as  it  may  seem,  this  is  right.  If  all 
men  were  honest,  "red  tape"  could  be  done  awray  with  ; 
but  as  men  are,  individu.  1  accountability  is  indispensable. 
Without  it,  the  army  might  fall  into  negligence  leading 
to  corruption,  instead  of  being,  as  it  is,  the  very  example 
of  administrational  honor  and  probity. 


It  so  happens  that  the  death  of  Mrs.  Maria  (Heald) 
Edwards,  neice  of  Captain  Nathan  Heald  and  mother  of 
Mrs.  General  Chetlain,  is  announced  after  the  above 
matter  had  been  put  in  print.  She  died  on  May  6,  1893, 
at  the  residence  of  General  Chetlain,  in  this  city,  at  the 
ripe  age  of  ninety  years. 

It  stirs  the  heart  to  think  that,  almost  up  to  this  very 
day,  there  was  living  among  us  so  near  a  relative  to  the 
gallant  and  unfortunate  captain  ;  a  woman  who  wras  a 
girl  nine  years  old  when  her  uncle  passed  through  the 
direful  ordeal. 


MASSACRE  TREK  AND  PART  OF   PULLMAN    HOUSE. 
184 


APPENDIX    F. 


the  bones  of  john  eaume.—  substance  of  a  paper  read 
by  Joseph  kirkland  before  the  Chicago  historical 
society,  on  the  occasion  of  the  presentation  to  the 
society  of  certain  human  reeics,  juey  21,  1891. 


OME  ominous  threaten- 
enings  were  heard  at  old 
Ft.  Dearborn  before  the 
bursting  of  the  storm  of 
August  15,    181 2.     Among 
them  was  the  killing  of  the 
interpreter  for  the  govern- 
ment, John  Lalime. 

John  Kinzie  arrived  at 
Fort  Dearborn  in  1804,  and 
with  his  family  occupied  a 
house  built  of  squared  logs, 
which,  up  to  about  1840, 
stood  where  the  corner  of 
Cass  and  Kinzie  streets  now 
is.  He  was  an  Indian-tra- 
der, furnishing  what  the 
savages  desired  and  taking 
furs  in  exchange.  The  government  also  had  an  Indian 
agent,  or  trader,  there. 

Various  circumstances  tend  to  show  that  before  181 2 
considerable  rivalry  existed  between  the  government  fur- 
trading  agency  and  the  civilian  dealers.  The  former  had 
certain  advantages  in  the  cheapness  of  purchase  and 
transportation,  but  were  restricted  as  to  selling  liquor. 
The  latter  were  nominally  under  the  same  restriction,  but 
practically  free,  and  the  Indians,  like  other  dipsoma- 
niacs, hated  every  man  who  tried  to  restrain  their  drink- 
ing.    The  short-sighted  savages  mistook  their  friends  for 

185 


186 


THE    CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 


their   enemies,    their   enemies  for  their   friends.     They 
loved  the  poison  and  the  poisoner. 

Mrs.  Kinzie,  in  Wau-Bun,   says  that  there   were  two 

factions   in    the  garrison, 

the  Kinzies  sympathizing 

with  the  opposition.   Also 

that,  though  the  garrison 

was  massacred,  no  Kinzie 

was  injured,  the  immuni- 

J   ty  extending  even  to  Lieu- 

2    tenant  LinaiT.  Helm,  who 

m    had  married  Mr.  Kinzie' s 

b  step-daughter.     Also  that 

-»  while  the  fort  was  burned, 

S*  theKinziemansionw7asleft 

i    untouched,  and  remained 

'Si 

-  standing  up  to  within  the 
c  memory  of  living  men. 
|  For  several  years  before 
ti  1812,  John  Lalime,  a 
5  Frenchman,  had  been  the 
2    government's  salaried  in- 

5  terpreter    at    Fort    Dear- 
ie   born.     The  earliest  men- 

6  tion  of  the  name  occurs  in 
§    a  letter  written  from  St. 
*   Joseph   by  William  Bur- 
%    nett  to  his  Detroit  corre- 
z    spondent,    which    begins 
<    with  the  words:     "When 
"8    Mr.  Lalime  was  in  Detroit 
t    last   you  was  pleased    to 
S    tell  him  that  if  I  should 
«    wrant    anything    at    your 
■3    house,  it  should  be  at  my 
§    service."  The  next  intelli- 
gence about  him  is  in  two 
letters  he  wrote  concern- 
ing Indian  matters.     The 
first  was  to  Wm.  Clark, 
Governor  of  Missouri,  and 
reads  as  follows: 


APPENDIX  F:   JOHN  UUME.  187 

Chicago,  26th  May,  181 1. 
Sir — An  Indian  from  the  Peorias  passed  here  yesterday  and  has 
given  me  information  that  the  Indians  about  that  place  have  been 
about  the  settlements  of  Kaskasia  and  Vincennes  and  have  stolen 
from  fifteen  to  twenty  horses.  It  appears  by  the  information  given 
me  that  the  principal  actors  are  iwo  brothers  of  the  wife  of  Main 
Poc.  He  is  residing  on  the  Peoria,  or  a  little  above  it,  at  a  place 
they  call  "Prairie  du  Corbeau."  By  the  express  going  to  Fort 
Wayne  I  will  communicate  this  to  the  agent.  I  presume,  sir,  that 
you  will  communicate  this  to  the  Governor  of  Kaskasia  and  Gen- 
eral Harrison.     I  am  sir,  with  respect, 

Y'r  h'ble  serv't, 

J.  Lalime. 

The  second  letter  is  the  one  mentioned  in  the  first.  It 
is  written  to  John  Johnson,  United  States  factor  at  Fort 
Wayne,  dated  July  7th,  181 1,  and  reads  as  follows  : 

Since  my  last  to  you  we  have  news  of  other  depredations  and 
murders  committed  about  the  settlement  of  Cahokia.  The  first 
news  we  received  was  that  the  brother-in-law  of  Main  Poc  went 
down  and  stole  a  number  of  horses.  Second,  another  party  went 
down,  stole  some  horses,  killed  a  man  and  took  off  a  young  woman, 
but  they  being  pursued  were  obliged  to  leave  her  to  save  them- 
selves. Third,  they  have  been  there  and  killed  and  destroyed  a 
whole  family.  The  cause  of  it  in  part  is  from  the  Little  Chief  that 
came  last  fall  to  see  Governor  Harrison  under  the  feigned  name  of 
Wapepa.  He  told  the  Indians  that  he  had  told  the  governor  that 
the  Americans  were  settling  on  their  lands,  and  asked  him  what 
should  be  done  with  them.  He  told  the  Indians  that  the  Governor 
had  told  him  they  were  bad  people. 

We  observe  that  the  Peoria  chief,  Main  Poc,  is  men- 
tioned as  blameworthy  for  these  wrongs.  It  may  be  in- 
teresting to  know  Main  Poc's  side  of  the  question.  Said 
he: 

You  astonish  me  with  your  talk!  Whenever  you  do  wrong  there 
is  nothing  said  or  done;  but  when  we  do  anything  you  immediately 
take  us  and  tie  us  by  the  neck  with  a  rope.  You  say,  what  will  be- 
come of  our  women  and  children  if  there  is  war?  On  the  other 
hand,  what  will  become  of  your  women  and  children  ?  It  is  best  to 
avoid  war. 

Lalime's  letters  show  that  he  was  a  man  of  ability 
and  education.  We  also  guess,  from  a  clause  in  Article 
III  of  the  treaty  of  1821,  that  Lalime  lived  after  the  man- 
ner of  those  days,  and  left  at  least  one  half-breed  child. 
The  clause  reserves  a  half-section  of  land  for  "J°hn  B. 
Lalime,  son  of  "  Noke-no-qua." 

Miss  Noke-no-qua  is  not  otherwise  known  to   history. 


188  THE    CHICAGO   MASSACRE    OF    l8l2. 

The  next  knowledge  we  have  of  Lalime  relates  to  his 
violent  death  in  the  spring  of  1812,  about  five  months 
before  the  massacre,  at  a  point  on  the  south  bank  of  the 
river  within  a  stone's  throw  of  where  is  now  the  south 
end  of  Rush  Street  bridge. 

In  a  letter  written  by  the  lamented  Gurdon  Hubbard 
to  John  Wentworth,  June  25th,  1881,  we  read  : 

As  regards  the  unfortunate  killing  of  Mr.  Lalime  by  Mr.  John 
Kinzie,  I  have  heard  the  account  of  it  related  by  Mrs.  Kinzi?    and 


gurdon  saltonstall  hubbard.     (I_,ast  picture  taken  of  him.) 

her  daughter,  Mrs.  Helm.  Mr.  Kinzie  never,  in  my  hearing, 
alluded  to  or  spoke  of  it.  He  deeply  regretted  the  act.  Knowing 
his  aversion  to  conversing  on  the  subject,  I  never  spoke  to  him 
about  it. 


APPENDIX  F:   JOHN  LALIME.  189 

Mrs.  Kinzie  said  that  her  husband  and  Lalime  had  for  several 
years  been  on  unfriendly  terms,  and  had  had  frequent  altercations; 
that  at  the  time  of  the  encounter  Mr.  Kinzie  had  crossed  the  river 
alone,  in  a  canoe,  going  to  the  fort,  and  that  Lalime  met  him  out- 
side the  garrison  and  shot  him,  the  ball  cutting  the  side  of  his  neck. 
She  supposed  that  Lalime  saw  her  husband  crossing,  and  taking 
his  pistol  went  through  the  gate  purposely  to  meet  him.  Mr.  Kin- 
zie, closing  with  Lalime,  stabbed  him  and  returned  to  the  house 
covered  with  blood.  He  told  his  wife  what  he  had  done,  that  he 
feared  he  had  killed  Lalime,  and  probably  a  squad  would  be  sent 
for  him  and  that  he  must  hide.  She,  in  haste,  took  bandages  and 
with  him  retreated  to  the  woods,  where  as  soon  as  possible  she 
dressed  his  wounds,  returning  just  in  time  to  meet  an  officer  with 
a  squad  with  orders  to  siezeher  husband.  He  could  not  be  found. 
For  several  days  he  was  hid  in  the  bush  and  cared  for  by  his  wife. 
Lalime  was,  I  understand,  an  educated  man,  and  quite  a  favorite 
with  the  officers,  who  were  greatly  excited.  They  decided  he 
should  be  buried  near  Kinzie's  house,  in  plain  view  from  his  front 
door  and  piazza.  The  grave  was  enclosed  in  a  picket  fence,  which 
Mr.  Kinzie,  in  his  lifetime,  kept  in  perfect  order.  My  impression 
has  ever  been  that  Mr.  Kinzie  acted,  as  he  told  his  wife,  in  self-de- 
fence. This  is  borne  out  by  the  fact  that,  after  a  full  investigation 
by  the  officers,  whose  friend  the  deceased  was,  they  acquitted  Mr. 
Kinzie,  who  then  returned  to  his  family. 

In  some  of  these  details  I  may  be  in  error,  but  the  fact  has 
always  been  firm  in  my  mind  that  Lalime  made  the  attack,  provok- 
ing the  killing,  in  self-defence.  Mr.  Kinzie  deeply  regretted  the 
result,  and  avoided  any  reference  to  it.         Yours, 

G.  S.   Hubbard. 

Mr.  Hubbard  does  not  say  he  remembers  having  seen 
the  grave.  He  did  not  come  to  Chicago  to  live  until 
1836.  Judge  Blodgett,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  describes 
its  position  as  not  on  the  river  bank,  but  back  in  the 
timber. 

A  somewhat  different  account  of  the  affair  was  given 
by  Mrs.  Portier  (Victoire  Mirandeau,)  and  printed  in 
Captain  Andreas'  History  of  Chicago,  Vol.  II,  page  105. 

My  sister  Madeline  and  I  saw  the  fight  between  John  Kinzie  and 
Lalime,  when  Lalime  was  killed.  It  was  sunset,  when  they  used  to 
shut  the  gates  of  the  fort.  Kinzie  and  Lalime  came  out  together, 
and  soon  we  heard  Lieutenant  Helm  call  out  for  Mr.  Kinzie  to  look 
out  for  Lalime,  as  he  had  a  pistol.  Quick  we  saw  the  men  come 
together.  We  heard  the  pistol  go  off  and  saw  the  smoke.  Then 
they  fell  down  together.  I  don't  know  as  Lalime  got  up  at  all,  but 
Kinzie  got  home  pretty  quick.  Blood  was  running  from  his  shoul- 
der, where  Lalime  had  shot  him.  In  the  night  he  packed  up  some 
things  and  my  father  took  him  to  Milwaukee,  where  he  stayed  un- 
til his  shoulder  got  well  and  he  found  he  would  not  be  troubled  if 
he  came  back.     You  see,  Kinzie  wasn't  to  blame  at  all.     He  didn't 


190  THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

have  any  pistol  nor  knife — nothing.  After  L,alime  shot  him  and 
Kinzie  got  his  arms  around  him,  he  (Lalime)  pulled  out  his  dirk, 
and  as  they  fell  he  was  stabbed  with  his  own  knife.  That  is  what 
they  all  said.  I  didn't  see  the  knife  at  all.  I  don't  remember 
where  Iyalime  was  buried.  I  don't  think  his  grave  was  very  near 
Kinzie's  house.  I  don't  remember  that  Mr.  Kinzie  ever  took  care 
of  the  grave.  That  is  all  I  know  about  it.  I  don't  know  what  the 
quarrel  was  about.     It  was  an  old  one — business,  I  guess. 

This  bears  all  the  thumb-marks  of  truth.  It  comes  at 
first  hand  from  a  disinterested  eye-witness.  Even  if  we 
suppose  Mrs.  Kinzie  to  have  seen  the  affray,  which  she 
does  not  say,  it  was  doubtless  from  the  opposite  side  of 
the  river,  while  Victoire  and  her  sister  were  in  the  fort 
itself.  No  other  account,  direct  from  an  eye-witness,  has 
ever  been  published. 

Now,  without  pretending  to  certainty,  it  strikes  me  as 
probable  that  up  to  this  time  Kinzie  stood  on  the  Indian 
side  of  the  irrepressible  conflict  between  white  men  and 
red  men,  while  the  army  and  Lalime  took  the  other. 
Mrs.  Helm's  narrative  in  Wau-Bun  is  decidedly  hostile  to 
the  good  sense  of  the  commandant  of  the  fort,  and  even  to 
the  courage  of  some  of  his  faithful  subordinates,  while 
obviously  friendly  to  the  mutinous  element  in  his  com- 
mand. Therefore  it  seems  to  me  quite  likely  that  La- 
lime's  crazy  attack  on  Kinzie  was  not  entirely  discon- 
nected with  that  irrepressible  conflict,  that  this  long- 
standing quarrel  had  more  than  appears  on  the  surface  to 
do  with  the  admitted  success  of  Kinzie's  trade  and  the 
well-known  unprofitableness  of  the  business  carried  on  by 
the  government  agency. 

On  April  29th,  1891,  there  was  unearthed  at  the  south- 
west corner  of  Cass  and  Illinois  streets,  a  skeleton. 
Workmen  were  digging  a  cellar  there  for  a  large  new 
building,  and  were  startled  by  having  the  shovel  stopped 
by  a  skull,  wherein  its  edge  made  a  slight  abrasion.  Fur- 
ther examination  brought  to  light  some  spinal  vertebrae, 
some  fragments  of  ribs,  some  remains  of  shoulder-blades 
and  pelvis-bones,  some  bones  of  the  upper  and  lower  arms 
and  the  hip-bones,  besides  two  bones  of  the  lower  part  of 
one  leg;  also  fragments,  nearly  crumbled  away,  of  a  rude 
pine  coffin.  The  rumor  of  the  discovery  spread  through 
the  neighborhood,  and  luckily  reached  the  ears  of  Mr. 
Scott  Fergus,  son  of  the  veteran  printer,    Robert  Fergus, 


APPENDIX  F:   JOHN  LALJME.  191 

whose  establishment  stands  within  ten  feet  of  the  place 
where  these  relies  of  mortality  had  so  long  lain  unno- 
ticed. 

Mr.  Fergus  at  once  tried  to  save  and  collect  the  bones, 
and  finding  some  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  laborers  to 
disregard  his  requests,  he  rang  for  the  police- patrol 
wagon,  which  bundled  the  little  lot  into  a  soap-box  and 
carried  them  to  the  East  Chicago  Avenue  station. 

I  was  out  of  town  at  this  time  and  did  not  hear  of  the 
interesting  occurrence  until  Mr.  Fergus  told  me  of  it 
upon  my  return,  about  a  month  later.  I  then  went  to  the 
station,  only  to  learn  that  the  bones,  being  unclaimed, 
had  been  sent  in  the  patrol-wagon  to  the  morgue  at  the 
County  Hospital,  on  the  West  Side.  However,  on  look- 
ing up  the  officer  who  carried  them  over,  he  freely  and 
kindly  offered  to  try  to  reclaim  them,  and  have  them  de- 
livered to  the  Historical  Society.  The  morgue  officials, 
after  a  few  days,  at  a  merely  nominal  expense,  complied 
with  the  request,  and  they  are  now  here.  Was  this,  is 
this  the  skeleton  of  John  Lalime  ? 

The  place  where  the  bones  were  found  is  within  a 
stone's  throw  of  the  exact  spot  indicated  by  Gurdon  Hub- 
bard as  the  place  where  the  picket  fence  marked  the 
grave,  "two  hundred  yards  west  of  the  Kinzie  house." 

Dr.  Arthur  B.  Hosmer,  and  Dr.  Otto  Freer,  who  have 
examined  the  relics  independently  of  each  other,  and 
assisted  me  in  arranging  them  in  human  semblance,  con- 
sider them  to  be  the  skeleton  of  a  slender  white  man, 
about  five  feet  and  four  inches  in  height. 

The  color,  consistency  and  general  conditions  indicate 
that  they  had  lain  in  the  ground  (dry  sand)  for  a  very 
long  time,  reaching  probably  or  possibly  the  seventy-nine 
years  which  have  elapsed  since  Lalime's  death. 

Now,  admitting  their  expert  judgment  to  be  correct, 
this  man  died  not  far  from  1812.  At  that  time  there  had 
not  and  never  had  been  in  all  these  parts  more  than  some 
fifty  to  one  hundred  white  men,  nearly  all  of  whom  were 
soldiers,  living  in  the  fort  and  subject  to  burial  in  the 
fort  burying-ground,  adjoining  the  present  site  of  Michi- 
gan Avenue  and  Randolph  street.  At  a  later  date,  say 
fifty  years  ago,  isolated  burials  were  not  uncommon,  but 
even  then  they  could  scarcely  have  occurred  in  so  public 


192  THK   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

a  spot  as  the  north  bank  cf  the  river,  close  to  the  docks 
and  warehouses  which  had  been  by  that  time  built  there. 

John  C.  Haines,  Fernando  Jones  and  others  remember 
perfectly  the  existence  of  that  lonely  little  fenced  enclos- 
ure, and  even  that  it  was  said  to  mark  the  resting-place 
of  a  man  killed  in  a  fight.  They  and  all  others  agree  that 
no  other  burials  were  made  thereabouts,  so  far  as  known. 
Another  point,  favorable  or  otherwise  to  this  identifica- 
tion, is  the  fact  that  the  place  where  the  skeleton  was 
found  is  the  lot  whereon  stood  the  first  St.  James  Church, 
and  that  the  attendants  there,  as  I  was  informed  by  one 
of  them,  Mr.  Ezra  McCagg,  never  heard  of  any  burial 
as  having  taken  place  in  the  church-yard. 

On  the  other  hand,  Mr.  Hubbard  designates  '  'the  river 
bank"  as  the  place  of  burial,  and  the  memory  of  Mr.  Fer- 
nando Jones  is  to  the  effect  that  the  fenced  enclosure  was 
nearer  to  the  place  of  Rush  Street  bridge  than  is  the  spot 
of  finding. 

But  in  contradiction  to  this  view,  Judge  Blodgett  tells 
me  that  he  was  here  in  1831  and  1832,  which  was  several 
years  before  either  Mr.  Jones  or  Mr.  Haines,  and  before 
Mr.  Hubbard  came  here  to  live,  he  being  then  trading  at 
Danville.  The  Judge  adds  that  with  the  Beaubien  and 
L,aframboise  boys  he  paddled  canoes  on  the  creek,  played 
in  the  old  Kinzie  log-house  and  wandered  all  about  the 
numerous  paths  that  ran  along  the  river  bank,  and  back 
into  the  thick,  tangled  underbrush  which  filled  the  woods, 
covering  almost  all  the  North  Side  west  of  the  shore  sand- 
hills. He  says  that  one  path  over  which  they  traveled  back 
and  forth  ran  from  the  old  house  west  to  the  forks  of  the 
river,  passing  north  of  the  old  Agency  house — "Cobweb 
Castle" — which  stood  near  the  northeast  corner  of  Kin- 
zie and  State  Streets.  Also  that  from  that  path  behind 
Cobweb  Castle  the  boys  pointed  further  north  to  where 
they  said  there  was  a  grave  where  the  man  was  buried 
whom  Jonn  Kinzie  had  killed,  but  they  never  went  out 
to  that  spot,  and  so  far  as  he  remembered  he  never  saw 
the  grave.  A  kind  of  awe  kept  him  quite  clear  of  that 
place.  All  he  knows  is  that  it  was  somewhere  out  in  the 
brush  behind  the  Agency  house. 

This  seems  to  locate  the  grave  as  nearly  as  possible  at 
the  corner  of  Illinois  and  Cass  streets,   where  these  relics 


APPENDIX  P:   JOHN  LALIME.  193 

were  found.  Fernando  Jones  suggests  that  even  if  the 
grave  was  originally  elsewhere,  the  remains  might  have 
got  into  the  church  lot  in  this  way:  In  1832  Robert 
Kinzie  entered  and  subdivided  Kinzie's  Addition,  boun- 
ded by  Chicago  Avenue  on  the  north,  the  lake  on  the 
east,  Kinzie  Street  on  the  south  and  State  Street  on  the 
west,  and  gradually  he  and  his  brother  John  sold  the 
lots.  In  1835  they  gave  the  St.  James  Society  the  two 
lots  where  the  church  was  built  and  wherein  this  skele- 
ton was  found.  What  more  likely  than  that  on  selling 
the  lot  whereon  the  original  interment  took  place  (sup- 
posing it  to  be  other  than  where  the  bones  were  un- 
earthed) the  sellers  were  compelled,  either  by  the  buyer's 
stipulation  or  their  own  sense  of  duty  to  their  father's 
manifest  wishes,  to  find  a  new  place  for  the  coffin  of  poor 
Lalime,  and  thereupon  selected  the  spare  room  in  the  new 
church-yard  ? 

It  is  worthy  of  note,  that  as,  with  the  skeleton,  were 
found  the  remains  of  a  coffin — a  single  bit  of  pine  board, 
showing  the  well-known  "shoulder  angle,"  though  de- 
cayed so  that  only  a  crumbling  strip  half  an  inch  thick 
was  left — this  could  not  have  been  a  secret  interment,  made 
to  conceal  the  death  of  a  man.  It  would  seem  utterly  im- 
probable that  two  men's  bodies  should  have  been  coffined 
and  buried  within  the  little  space  of  ground,  in  the  few 
years  of  time  pointed  out  by  all  these  circumstances.  We 
learn  that  L,alime  was  so  buried;  also  that,  so  far  as 
known,  all  other  excavations  thereabouts  have  failed  to 
expose  his  remains;  also  that  these  relics  have  now  come 
to  light.  Everyone  must  draw  his  own  conclusion.  I 
have  drawn  mine.  If  it  be  erroneous,  this  exploitation 
of  the  subject  will  be  likely  to  bring  out  the  truth. 


BETTER    FROM     FERNANDO  JONES. 

Chicago,  July  20th,  1891. 
Joseph  Kiriceand,  Ksouire: 

Dear  Sir — In  answer  to  your  inquiry  as  to  any  incidents  com- 
ing to  my  knowledge  as  to  the  grave  of  John  Jvalime,  who  was 
buried  near  the  mouth  of  the  Chicago  River  in  the  year  1812,  I  fur- 
nish the  following  statement: 


194  THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE    OF    l8l2. 

When  I  arrived  in  Chicago,  on  my  sixteenth  birthday,  May  26th, 
1835,  I  landed  on  the  north  side  of  the  present  river,  near  its  mouth, 
very  near  to  the  old  John  Kinzie  homestead.  I  was  escorted  to  the 
historic  Cobweb  Castle  and  the  Dearborn  Street  bridge  by  the  chil- 
dren of  an  old  friend  of  my  father's,  Samuel  Jackson,  who  was  em- 
ployed upon  the  north  pier  harbor  work,  and  who  had  been  an  old 
neighbor  in  Buffalo,  New  York,  where  he  had  also  been  employed 
upon  the  government  harbor.  The  little  boy,  Ezra,  and  the  girl, 
Abigail,  pointed  out  a  grave  situated  a  little  to  the  north  of  our 
patli  and  several  hundred  feet  west  of  the  Kinzie  house.  The  grave 
was  surrounded  by  a  neat  white  picket  fence.  I  passed  it  many 
times  afterward,  during  that  and  the  succeeding  summer,  and  often 
visited  it  with  children  about  my  own  age.  The  history  of  this 
lonely  grave,  as  detailed  by  them,  gave  it  a  peculiar  fascination  to 
me,  and  to  them,  and  to  others  who  saw  it.  I  recall  now,  after  an 
interval  of  mere  than  half  a  century,  a  number  of  persons  who  vis- 
ited this  grave  with  me,  among  whom  were  the  Indian  wife  of  Cap- 
tain Jamison;  the  wife  of  L,ieut.  Thompson,  a  half-breed  woman; 
Virginia  Baxley,  daughter  of  Captain  Baxley,  of  the  fort;  Pierre 
Laframboise,  son  of  a  chief  and  interpreter;  Alexander  Beaubien, 
son  of  a  trader,  and  John  C.  Haines,  who  was  also  a  clerk  near  me 
on  South  Water  Street. 

The  tradition  in  regard  to  this  grave  was  that  it  was  the  last  rest- 
ing-place of  a  Frenchman  named  Lalime,  who  was  government  in- 
terpreter at  the  fort,  and  who  was  killed  in  an  encounter  with  the 
old  Indian-trader,  John  Kinzie.  It  was  said  that  the  officers  of  the 
garrison  had  the  body  buried  in  sight  of  Mr.  Kinzie's  house  in  re- 
sentment for  his  murder.  But  it  seems  that  old  Mr.  Kinzie  took 
the  sting  from  this  reproach  by  carefully  tending  the  spot  during 
his  lifetime,  and  his  son,  John  H.  Kinzie,  continued  the  same  care 
over  it. 

Soon  after  the  erection  of  St.  James  Episcopal  Church,  about  the 
year  1838,  a  grave  was  noticed  on  the  north  side  of  the  lot  and  in 
the  rear  of  the  church,  which  was  situated  on  the  southwest  corner 
of  Cass  and  Illinois  Streets,  and  opposite  the  new  house  of  John 
H.  Kinzie.  The  lot  upon  which  the  Frenchman  was  buried  had  been 
sold  by  Mr.  John  H.  Kinzie,  and  was  built  upon,  and  Mr.  Kinzie 
had  given  the  lot  upon  the  corner  for  the  church.  Mr.  Alouzo  C. 
Wood,  the  builder  of  the  church,  who  still  survives,  informs  me 
that  the  grave  appeared  there  mysteriously,  and  his  remembrance 
is  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hallam,  the  priest  in  charge,  informed  him 
that  the  remains  were  placed  there  by  the  direction  of  Mr.  Kinzie, 
or  Mrs.  Kinzie,  but  he  has  no  further  distinct  recollection  in  regard 
to  it.  I,  myself,  never  mentioned  the  subject  to  Mr.  John  H.  Kin- 
zie, but  remember  a  conversation  with  his  brother,  Robert  A.  Kin- 
zie, U.  S.  Paymaster,  in  which  he  expressed  satisfaction  that  his 
brother  had  taken  care  of  the  bones  of  poor  Ealime.  It  was  under- 
stood by  the  few  conversant  with  the  history  of  Ealime's  death  that 
both  the  elder  Kinzie  and  his  son,  John  H.,  were  averse  to  speaking 
of  the  matter,  but  "Bob"  was  very  like  an  Indian,  aud  not  at  all 
reticent  on  the  question,  and  that  the  legend  among  those  who  took 
any  interest  in  the  matter  has  always  been  that  this  solitary  grave 


APPENDIX  F:   JOHN  LAUMK.  195 

in  the  church-yard  was  the  grave  of  the  "little  Frenchman"  whc 
was  first  buried  near  the  spot.     Under  the  circumstances,  it  is  not 
strange  that  the  removal  should  have  been  quietly  made,  and  I  have 
little  doubt  in  my  own  mind  that  the  tradition  is  correct. 
Very  sincerely  yours, 

Fernando  Jones. 


LETTER    FROM   THE    HON.   J.     C.    HAINES. 

Chicago,   15  July,  1891. 
Major  J.  Kirkland  : 

Without  very  definite  recollection  as  to  just  where  the  grave  of 
John  Lalime  stood  in  1835,  when  I  came  to  Chicago,  I  can  say  that 
I  knew  of  its  existence  and  have  an  impression  it  stood  in  St.  James' 
Church  lot,  corner  of  Cass  and  Michigan  Streets. 

John  C.  Haines. 


dr.  hosmer's  letter. 

108  Pine  Street,  Chicago,  \ 
July  11,  1893.  j 
The  bones  shown  me  at  this  date  at  the  Chicago  Historical  So- 
ciety, constitute  the  major  portion  of  a  human  skeleton — that  of  an 
adult  white  male  of  slender  build  and  about  five  feet  four  to  five 
inches  in  height.  There  is  evidence  of  a  partial  or  complete  frac- 
ture of  the  left  femur,  at  some  time  in  his  life,  thoroughly  repaired 
and  with  some  permanent  thickening  of  the  bone. 

Judging  by  the  color,  weight  and  rotten  condition  of  the  bones, 
I  believe  that  they  have  been  in  the  ground  (supposing  it  to  be 
sandy  and  above  water-level)  at  least  sixty  (60)  but  not  to  exceed 
one  hundred  (100)  years. 

A.  B.   HOSMER,    M.   D. 


DR.    FREER'S   LETTER. 


The  skeleton  shown  me  by  Mr.  Joseph  Kirkland  is  without  doubt 
of  great  age  and  resembles  in  appearance  fragments  of  others  that 
have  lain  for  many  years  in  sandy  soil.  All  animal  matter  has  de- 
parted from  the  bones,  leaving  them  very  light  and  consisting  of 
the  mineral  portions  alone. 

The  type  of  skeleton  is  that  of  a  man  of  moderate  stature  and 
light  build.  The  skull  is  that  of  a  white  man  and  of  great  sym- 
metry. The  lower  jaw  is  missing,  but  the  upper  perfect,  barring  loss 
of  all  teeth  but  one.  The  presence  of  the  third  molar's  sockets 
speaks  for  the  complete  maturity  of  the  man.  It  is  impossible 
exactly  to  estimate  the  exact  time  that  the  skeleton  has  been  in  the 
ground,  but  its  appearance  would  tally  well  with  the  eighty  years 
it  is  supposed  to  have  lain  there. 

Dr.  O.  T.  Freer. 

July  20th,  1891. 


THE  LATE  CALUMET  CLUB-HOUSE. 


196 


APPENDIX   G. 


IMPORTANT  REMINISCENCES  OF  AN  OLD  SETTLER  (A.  H. 
EDWARDS).  —  [FROM  "FORT  DEARBORN' '  |  FERGUS' 
HISTORICAL  SERIES,    NO.    l6-] 

Sheboygan  (Wis.),  May  24th,  1891. 
Hon.  John  Wentworth: 

Dear  Sir — I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  reading  your  account  and 
also  the  remarks  of  others  in  regard  to  Chicago  and  Illinois  his- 
tory. I  am  acquainted  with  some  facts  derived  from  conversation 
with  one  who  was  there,  and  witnessed  the  fight  and  killing  of 
many  of  those  who  lost  their  lives  on  that  memorable  da}-.  She 
was  a  daughter  of  one  of  the  soldiers,  and  was  one  of  the  children 
who,  with  her  mother  and  sisters,  occupied  the  wagons,  or  convey- 
ances that  was  to  convey  them  from  the  fort.  She  told  me  she  saw 
her  father  when  he  fell,  and  also  many  others.  She,  with  her 
mother  and  sisters,  were  taken  prisoners  among  the  Indians  for 
nearly  two  years,  and  were  finally  taken  to  Mackinac  and  sold  to 
the  traders  and  sent  to  Detroit.  On  our  arrival  in  Detroit,  in  1816, 
after  the  war,  this  girl  was  taken  into  our  family,  and  was  then 
about  thirteen  years  old,  and  had  been  scalped.  She  said  a  young 
Indian  came  to  the  wagon  where  she  was  and  grabbed  her  by  the 
hair  and  pulled  her  out  of  the  wagon,  and  she  fought  him  the  best 
she  knew  how,  scratching  and  biting,  till  finally  he  threw  her  down 
and  scalped  her.  She  was  so  frightened  she  was  not  aware  of  it  un- 
til the  blood  ran  down  her  face.  An  old  squaw  interfered  and  pre- 
vented her  from  being  tomahawked  by  the  Indian,  she  going  with 
the  squaw  to  her  wigwam,  and  was  taken  care  of  and  her  head 
cured.  This  squaw  was  one  that  often  came  to  their  house.  The 
bare  spot  on  the  top  of  the  head  was  about  the  size  of  a  silver  dol- 
lar. She  saw  Captain  Wells  killed,  and  told  the  same  story  as  re- 
lated in  your  pamphlet. 

My  father  was  well  acquainted  with  Captain  Wells;  was  sta- 
tioned with  him  at  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana,  where  I  was  born,  in  1807, 
and  he  was  surgeon  of  the  post.  Mv  mother  was  a  daughter  of  Col. 
Thomas  Hunt  of  the  Fifth  Infantry. 

I  think  there  must  be  a  mistake  as  to  the  year  the  Kinzies  re- 
turned to  Chicago.  My  father  and  family  arrived  in  Detroit  in  June, 
1816;  the  Kinzies  were  there  then,  and  I  was  schoolmate  of  John, 
Robert,  Ellen  and  Maiia  during  that  year,  and  I  think  they  re- 
turned to  Chicago  in  1817.  Mr.  Kinzie  went  in  the  fall  of  1816,  and 
the  family  in  the  spring  of  181 7. 

I  was  in  Chicago  in  1832  in  the  Black  Hawk  War  time,  as  First 
Lieutenant  of  cavalry,  from  Michigan.  The  regiment  was  com- 
manded bv  General  Hart  L-  Stewart,  now  living  in  Chicago. 

197 


198  ^HE   CHICAGO    MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

During  the  Black  Hawk  War,  and  when  in  Chicago,  we  heard 
of  the  killing  of  the  Hall  family  and  the  carrying  off  of  the  two 
girls.  Our  company  camped  that  night  at  the  mouth  of  the  Little 
Calumet,  and  next  morning  went  into  Chicago,  and  the  fort  was 
occupied  by  women  and  children  of  the  surrounding  country 

Then  I  saw  for  the  last  time  my  schoolmate,  R.  A.  Kinzie.  My 
brother,  Col.  L.  A.  H.  Edwards,  was  in  command  of  the  fort  after 
we  left,  and  had  a  Cass  County  regiment  of  military  from  Michi- 
gan. We  met  him  on  our  return  at  Door  Prairie.  He  remained 
there  until  the  arrival  of  Major  Whistler,  in  June,  1832;  he  retired 
from  the  fort  before  the  landing  of  any  of  the  U.  S.  troops,  on  ac- 
count of  cholera  being  among  them,  and  he  wished  to  avoid  any 
contact  with  them  on  that  account.  His  command  camped  on  the 
prairie,  about  a  mile  from  the  fort,  and  remained  only  a  day  or  two. 
Fearing  the  cholera  might  get  among  his  men,  he  left  for  home,  as 
he  saw  they  were  not  needed  any  longer,  and  wras  so  informed  by 
Major  Whistler. 

Captain  Anderson,  Ensign  Wallace  and  myself  camped  under 
the  hospitable  roof  of  General  Beanbien,  on  the  bank  of  the  lake, 
not  very  far  from  the  fort,  who  had  kept  the  only  house  theie. 
Mark  Beaubien  Jr.  went  into  Chicago  with  us,  he  having  joined  us 
at  Niles,  on  his  way  home  from  school.  He  was  the  son  of  the  one 
called  the  fiddler. 

Our  family  lived  in  Detroit  and  were  wrell  acquainted  with  the 
Whistlers.  My  father,  Major  Edwards,  was  in  Detroit  at  the  sur- 
render of  Hull,  as  Surgeon-General  of  the  Northwestern  Army.  He 
went  from  Ohio,  and  arriving  in  Detroit,  received  his  appointment. 
Our  family  was  then  living  in  Dayton,  Ohio.  At  the  close  of  the 
w7ar  he  resigned,  and  in  1816  removed  to  Detroit  and  was  appointed 
sutler  to  all  Northwestern  posts — Fort  Gratiot,  Mackinac,  Green 
Bay  [Fort  Howard],  and  Chicago  [Fort  Dearborn] — his  books, 
now  in  my  possession,  showing  his  dealings  with  each  of  these 
stores,  and  all  the  officers  mentioned  in  your  paper. 

It  is  pleasant  to  note  that  at  the  disastrous  fire  at  the 
Calumet  Club,  which  occurred  while  these  pages  were 
preparing,  the  Beaubien  fiddle  and  the  Wells  hatchet 
were  saved. 


Sheboygan  (Wis.),  Jan.  10,   1881. 
Your  letter  of  the  5th  came  to  hand  to-day.  The  person  I  named 

as  being  present  at  the  massacre,  was  a  daughter  of Cooper,*  one 

of  the  soldiers  who  was  killed  in  the  fight.  Her  account,  as  given 
to  me,  as  also  her  mother's,  was  that  as  soon  as  all  the  soldiers  were 
disposed  of,  the  Indians  made  a  rush  for  the  wagons,  wdiere  the 
women  aud  children  were.  Her  mother,  and  sister  younger  than 
herself,  wrere  taken  from  the  wagon  and  carried  away.  A  young 
Indian  boy  about  fourteen  or  fifteen  years  old  dragged  her  by  the 
hair  out  of  the  wagon,  and  she  bit  and  scratched  him  so  badly  that 

*"John  Cooper,  Surgeon's  Mate.v  is  found  in  the  muster-roll  shown  on 
page  150.    He  also  signed  the  certificate  to  the  roll. 


APPENDIX  G:    A.  H.  EDWARDS.  199* 

he  finally  scalped  her  and  would  have  killed  her  if  an  old  squaw 
had  not  prevented  him.  I  think  she  married  a  man  by  the  name 
of  Farnum  and  lived  many  years  in  Detroit.  Her  mother  died  there 
about  the  year  1832.  The  sisters  were  living  in  Detroit  in  1828.  I 
have  since  heard  they  were  living  in  Mackinac.  I  do  not  know  the 
first  name  of  Cooper.  He  was  killed  and  the  girl  said  she  saw  her 
father's  scalp  in  the  hands  of  an  Indian  afterward.  He  had  sandy 
hair.  I  think  she  said  they  were  Scotch.  Isabella  had  children. 
The  girl  said  she  saw  Wells  when  he  fell  from  his  horse,  and  that 
his  face  was  painted.  What  became  of  her  sister  I  do  not  know,  as 
I  left  Detroit  in  1823,  but  my  father  and  mother  remained  there  un- 
til 1828.  You  will  receive  with  this  a  statement  written  by  my 
father  regarding  himself,  a  short  time  before  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  October,  i860,  at  Kalamazoo,  Mich.,  where 
he  had  resided  for  many  years.  The  statement  will  give  you 
all  the  information  in  regard  to  himself  as  well  as  who  my 
mother  was.  Her  father,  Thomas  Hunt,  was  appointed  a  surgeon 
in  the  army  directly  after  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  where  he  was 
brought  into  notice  by  an  act  of  gallantry,  then  only  a  boy  of  fif- 
teen. He  remained  in  the  army  until  his  death,  in  1808,  in  com- 
mand of  his  regiment,  at  Bellefontaiue,  Missouri.  His  sons  and 
grandsons  have  been  representatives  in  the  army  ever  since.  Cap- 
tain Thomas  Hunt,  mentioned  in  your  letter,  was  a  son,  and  the 
present  General  Henry  J.  Hunt,  of  the  Artillery,  and  General  Lewis 
C.  Hunt,  commanding  the  Fourth  Infantry,  grandsons,  whose 
father  (my  mother's  brother)  was  Captain  Samuel  W.  Hunt  of  the 
army. 

My  grandfather,  Thomas  Hunt,  was  a  captain  under  Lafayette, 
and  was  wounded  at  Yorktowu  in  storming  a  redoubt  of  the  Brit- 
ish. Afterward  he  was  with  General  Anthony  Wayne  in  his  cam- 
paign against  the  Indians,  and  was  left  in  command  of  Fort  Wayne 
as  its  first  commander  after  the  subjection  of  the  Indians. 

A.  H.  Edwards. 

For  other  extracts  from  this  interesting  paper  see  Ap- 
pendix E— "The  Wells  and  Heald  families." 


200 


THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 


I'/ji] 


APPENDIX  H. 


BIIvLY   CALDWELL,   THE   SAUGANASH. 

HE  Sauganash  had  qualities,  good  and 
jw  bad,  appertaining  to  each  of  his  parent 
m  races.  He  had  fighting  courage  and  cool- 
ness in  danger,  he  had  physical  endurance,  he 
had  personal  faithfulness  to  personal  friends, 
he  had  a  love  of  strong  drink.  There  is  now 
(1893)  in  this  city,  an  account-book  kept  which 
was  at  a  Chicago  grocery  store  in  the  thirties, 
wherein  appear  many  charges  reading:  "One 
quart  whisky  to  B.  Caldwell."  The  book  is  in  possession 
of  Julian  Rumsey,  Esq.,  a  relative  of  Mrs.  Juliette 
(Magill)  Kinzie,  author  of  "  Wau  Bun." 

When  the  inevitable  separation  came,  and  the  Indians, 
after  a  grand  farewell  war-dance  (August  18,  1835),*  de- 
parted on  their  migration  toward  the  setting  sun,  Cald- 
well went  with  them,  and  died  September  28,  1841,  at 
Council  Bluffs,  Iowa.  His  old  friend  Mark  Beaubien, 
had  named  after  him  the  first  and  most  noted  of  Chicago's 
real  hotels,  the  "Sauganash,"  lovingly  remembered  by 
many  of  the  ' '  first  families. ' ' 


Letter  written  by  the  Sauganash  [Billy  Caldwell]  and 
Shabonee  [Chambly]. 

Council  Bluffs,  March  23rd,  1840. 
To  General  Harrison's  Friends: 

The  other  day  several  newspapers  were  brought  to  us;  and  peep- 
ing over  them,  to  our  astonishment  we  found  that  the  hero  of  the 
late  war  was  called  a  coward.  This  would  have  surprised  the  tall 
braves,  Tecumseh,  of  the  Shawnees,  and  Round  Head  and  Walk- 
in-the-water  of  the  late  Tomahawkees.  The  first  time  we  got  ac- 
quainted with  General  Harrison,  it  was  at  the  council-fires  of  the 
late  Old  Tempest,  General  Wayne,  on  the  headquarters  of  the 
Wabash  at  Greenville,  1796.  From  that  time  till  181 1  we  had  many 
friendly  smokes  with  him;  but  from  1S12  we  changed  our  tobacco 

*See  Appendix  I. 

201 


202 


THE    CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 


smoke  into  powder  smoke.  Then  we  found  that  General  Harrison 
was  a  brave  warrior  and  humane  to  his  prisoners,  as  reported  to  us 
by  two  of  Tecumseh's  young  men,  who  were  taken  in  the  fleet  with 
Captain  Barclay  on  the  10th  of  September,  1813,  and  on  the  Thames, 
where  he  routed  both  the  red-men  and  the  British,  and  where  he 
showed  his  courage  and  his  humanity  to  his  prisoners,  both  white 
and  red.  See  report  of  Adams  Brown  and  family,  taken  on  the 
morning  of  the  battle,  October  5th,  1813.  We  are  the  only  two 
surviving  of  that  day  in  this  country.  We  hope  the  good  white 
men  will  protect  the  name  of  General  Harrison. 
We  remain  your  friends  forever. 

Chamblee  [Shabonee],  Aid  to  Tecumseh. 


.  v*  ™ 


/ 


me-tee-a;    a  signer  of  the  treaty  of  1821. 


APPENDIX  I. 


FAREWELL   WAR-DANCE    OF   THE    INDIANS. 

f^j/^ARLY  in  1833  Indians  to  the  number  of  five 
4pL    thousand  or  more,  assembled  at  Chicago,  around 
the  fort,  the  village,  the  rivers  and  the  portage, 


to  treat  for  the  sale  of  their  entire  remaining 
possessions  in  Illinois  and  Wisconsin.  John 
Joseph  Latrobe,  in  his  "Rambles  in  North 
America,"  gives  the  following  realistic  sketch 
of  the  state  of  things  hereabouts  just  sixty  years  ago: 

A  mushroom  town  on  the  verge  of  a  level  country,  crowded  to 
its  utmost  capacity  and  beyond,  a  surrounding  cloud  of  Indians 
encamped  on  the  prairie,  beneath  the  shelter  of  the  woods,  on  the 
river-side  or  by  the  low  sand-hills  along  the  lake,  companies  of  old 
warriers  under  every  bush,  smoking,  arguing,  palavering,  pow- 
wowing, with  no  apparent  prospect  of  agreement. 

The  negotiations  dragged  on  for  weeks  and  months, 
for  the  Indians  were  slow  to  put  an  end  to  their  jollifica- 
tion, an  occasion  when  they  were  the  guests  of  the 
Government,  and  fared  sumptuously  with  nothing  to 
pay.  The  treaty  had  still  to  be  ratified  by  the  senate 
before  its  provisions  could  be  carried  out  and  the  settle- 
ment made.     This  took  about  two  years. 

The  money  paid  and  the  goods  delivered,  the  Indians 
shook  the  dust  off  their  feet  and  departed  ;  the  dust  shak- 
ing being  literal,  for  once,  as  they  joined,  just  before- 
starting,  in  a  final  "war-dance."  For  this  strange  scene, 
we  fortunately  have  as  witness  Ex-Chief  Justi(  e  Caton, 
previously  quoted  herein.  He  estimates  the  dancers  at 
eight  hundred,  that  being  all  the  braves  that  could  be 
mustered,  out  of  the  five  thousand  members  then  present 
of  the  departing  tribes.  The  date  was  August  18th,  1835. 
He  says  : 

They  appreciated  that  it  was  their  last  on  their  native  soil — that 
it  was  a  sort  of  funeral  ceremony  of  old  associations  and  memories, 

m 


204  THE   CHICAGO    MASSACRE    OF    l8l2. 


APPENDIX  I:    FAREWELL  WAR-DANCE.  205 

and  nothing  was  omitted  to  lend  it  all  the  grandeur  and  solemnity 
possible.  They  assembled  at  the  Council  House  (North-east  corner 
of  Rush  and  Kinzie  Streets).  All  were  naked  except  a  strip  of 
cloth  around  their  loins.  Their  bodies  were  covered  with  a  great 
variety  of  brilliant  paints.  On  their  faces  particularly  they  seemed 
to  have  exhausted  their  art  of  hideous  decoration.  Foreheads, 
cheeks  and  noses  were  covered  with  curved  strips  of  red  or  Ver- 
million, which  were  edged  with  black  points,  and  gave  the  appear- 
ance of  a  horrid  grin .  The  long,  coarse  black  hair  was  gathered 
into  scalp  locks  on  the  tops  of  their  heads  and  decorated  with  a 
profusion  of  hawks'  and  eagles'  feathers  ;  some  strung  together  so 
as  to  reach  nearly  to  the  ground.  They  were  principally  armed 
with  tomahawks  and  war  clubs.  They  were  led  by  what  answered 
for  a  baud  of  music,  which  created  a  discordant  din  of  hideous 
noises,  produced  by  beating  on  hollow  vessels  and  striking  clubs 
and  sticks  together.  They  advanced  with  a  continuous  dance. 
Their  actual  progress  was  quite  slow.  They  proceeded  up  along 
the  river  on  the  North  side,  stopping  in  front  of  every  house  to 
perform  some  extra  antics.  They  crossed  the  north  branch  on  the 
old  bridge,  about  Kinzie  Street,  and  proceeded  south  to  the  bridge 
which  stood  where  Lake  Street  biidge  is  now,  nearly  in  front  of,  and 
in  full  view  from  the  Sauganash  Hotel  ("Wigwam"  lot,  Lake  and 
Market  Streets).  A  number  of  young  married  people  had  rooms 
there.  The  parlor  was  in  the  second  story  pointing  west,  from  the 
windows  of  which  the  best  view  of  the  dancers  was  to  be  had  and 
these  were  filled  with  ladies. 

The  young  lawyer,  afterward  Chief  Justice,  had  come 
to  the  West  in  1833,  and  less  than  a  year  before  this  had 
gone  back  to  Oneida  County,  New  York,  and  there 
married  Miss  Laura  Sherrill.  They  were  among  the 
lookers-on  from  those  upper  windows,  a  crowd  all  inter- 
ested, many  agitated  and  some  really  frightened  at  the 
thought  of  the  passions  and  memories  that  must  be  in- 
flaming those  savage  breasts  and  that  were  making  them 
the  very  picture  of  demoniac  fury. 

Although  the  din  and  clatter  had  been  heard  for  some  time, 
they  did  not  come  into  view  from  this  point  of  observation  till  they 
had  proceeded  so  far  West  (on  the  North  side)  as  to  come  on  a  line 
with  the  house.  All  the  way  to  the  South  Branch  bridge  came  the 
wild  band,  which  was  in  front  as  they  came  upon  the  bridge, 
redoubling  their  blows,  followed  by  the  warriors  who  had  now 
wrought  themselves  into  a  perfect  fury. 

The  morning  was  very  warm  and  the  perspiration  was  pouring 
from  them.  Their  countenances  had  assumed  an  expression  of  all 
the  worst  passions — fierce  anger,  terrible  hate,  dire  revenge,  re- 
morseless cruelty — all  were  expressed  in  their  terrible  features. 
Their  tomahawks  and  clubs  were  thrown  and  brandished  in  every 
direction,  and  with  every  step  and  every  gesture  they  uttered  the 
most  frightful  yells.     The  dance  consisted  of  leaps  and  spasmodic 


206  THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

steps,  now  forward,  now  back  or  sidewise,  the  whole  body  distorted 
into  every  imaginable  position,  most  generally  stooping  forward 
with  the  head  and  face  thrown  up,  the  back  arched  down,  first  one 
foot  thrown  forward  and  withdrawn  and  the  other  similarly  thrust 
out,  frequently  squatting  quite  to  the  ground,  and  all  with  a  move- 
ment almost  as  quick  as  lightning.  The  yells  and  screams  they 
uttered  were  broken  up  and  multiplied  and  rendered  all  the  more 
hideous  by  a  rapid  clapping  of  the  mouth  with  the  palm  of  the 
hand.  When  the  head  of  the  column  reached  the  hotel,  while  they 
looked  up  at  the  windows  at  the  "Chemo-ko-man  squaw7s, "  it 
seemed  a?  if  we  had  a  picture  of  hell  itself  before  us,  and  a  carni- 
val of  the  damned  spirits  there  confined.  They  paused  in  their 
progress,  for  extra  exploits,  in  front  of  John  T.  Semple's  house, 
near  the  northwest  corner  of  L,ake  and  Franklin  Streets,  and  then 
again  in  front  of  the  Tremont,  on  the  northwest  corner  of  Lake  and 
Dearborn  Streets,  where  the  appearance  of  ladies  again  in  the  win- 
dow again  inspired  them  with  new  life  and  energy.  Thence  they 
proceeded  down  to  Fort  Dearborn,  where  we  will  take  a  final  leave 
of  my  old  friends,  with  more  good  wishes  for  their  final  welfare 
than  I  really  dare  hope  will  be  realized. 

The  Indians  were  conveyed  to  the  lands  selected  for 
them  (and  accepted  by  a  deputation  sent  by  them  in  ad- 
vance of  the  treaty)  in  Clay  County,  Missouri,  opposite 
Fort  Leavenworth,  Kansas.  The  Missourians  were  hos- 
tile to  their  new,  strange  neighbors,  and  two  years  later 
they  were  again  moved,  this  time  to  a  reservation  in  Iowa, 
near  Council  Bluffs.  Once  more  the  fate  of  the  poor  waif, 
"  Move  on,  move  on,"  was  theirs,  and  then  they  halted 
in  Kansas  for  many  years.  Their  present  condition  has 
been  already  sketched. 

Judge  Caton  is  an  ardent,  devoted  friend  of  the  Indians. 
He  knew  many  of  them  personally,  they  having  been  his 
faithful  companions — by  night  and  day,  in  summer  and 
winter — in  hunting,  which  was  the  passion  of  his  early 
years.  Yet  here,  we  observe,  he  says  sadly,  that  his 
wishes  for  their  welfare  go  beyond  any  confident  hope  he 
can  feel. 


APPENDIX  K. 

THE    BRONZK   MEMORIAL   GROUP. 

History  places  the  scene  of  the  Massacre  adjacent  to 
the  shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  between  the  present  16th 
and  20th  Streets.  The  Memorial  Group,  now  (1893) 
newly  erected,  stands  at  the  eastern  extremity  of  18th 
Street,  overlooking  the  lake  (nothing  intervening  save 
the  right  of  way  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railway);  and  is 
therefore  in  the  midst  of  the  battle-field. 

I  think  it  well  here  to  put  in  evidence  unanswerable 
testimony  as  to  the  identity  of  the  spot  selected  for  the 
group  with  the  place  where  the  short  and  fatal  struggle 
took  place.     Regarding  it,  Munsell's  history  observes  : 

The  attack,  the  charge,  the  subsequent  advance,  etc.,  seem  all 
to  point  to  about  the  spot  where  is  now  Eighteenth  Street ;  and  to 
the  Massacre  tree,  a  tall  cottonwood,  still  standing  when  these  lines 
are  penned  (1892),  though  dead  since  about  five  years  ago. 

For  conclusive  evidence  of  the  identity  of  the  tree  and  its  trust- 
worthiness as  marking  the  battle-field,  see  certificates  of  old  citizens 
given  ou  page  31,  Vol.  1,  Andreas'  History  of  Chicago. 

The  letters  quoted  by  Captain  Andreas  are  all  from 
persons  not  only  well-informed,  but  also  of  the  highest 
social  character  and  standing.     They  are  as  follows  : 

Letter  from  Mrs.  Henry  W.  King. 

151  Rush  Street,  Chicago,     ) 
January  25,  1884.  j 
A.  T.  Andreas,  Esq. 

Dear  sir: — I  am  very  happy  to  tell  you  what  I  know  about  the 
tree  in  question,  for  I  am  anxious  that  its  value  as  a  relic  should 
be  appreciated  by  Chicago  people,  especially  since  the  fire  has  ob- 
literated nearly  every  other  object  connected  with  our  early  history. 
Shortly  before  the  death  of  my  friend  Mrs.  John  H.  Kinzie,  I 
called  upon  her  and  asked  her  to  drive  with  me  through  the  city  and 
point  out  the  various  locations  and  points  of  interest  that  she  knev^ 
were  connected  with  the  "early  day"  of  Chicago.  She  said  there 
were  very  few  objects  remaining,  but  localities  she  would  be  happy 
to  show  me. 

She  appointed  a  day,  but  was  not  well  enough  to  keep  her  ap- 
pointment ;  went  East  soon  after  for  her  health  and  died  within  a 
few  weeks.     However,  at  this  interview  I  mention,  she  said  that  to 

207 


208  THE   CHICAGO   MASSACRK   OF    l8l2. 

her  the  most  interesting  object  in  our  city  was  the  old  cottonwood 
tree  that  stands  on  Eighteenth  Street,  between  l'rairie  Avenue  and 
the  lake.  She  remarked  that  it,  with  its  fellows,  were  saplings  at 
the  time  of  the  Indian  Massacre,  and  that  they  marked  the  spot  of 
that  fearful  occurrence  ;  though  she  was  not  sure  but  that  the 
smaller  one  had  either  died  or  been  cut  down.  I  expressed  surprise 
at  the  location,  imagining  that  the  massacre  occurred  further  south, 
among  the  small  sand-hills  that  we  early  settlers  remember  in  the 
vicinity  of  Hyde  Park.    I  remember  that  her  answer  to  this  was  : 

"  My  child,  you  must  understand  that  in  1812  there  was  no  Chi- 
cago, and  the  distance  between  the  old  fort  and  Eighteenth  Street 
was  enormous."  Said  she:  "  My  husband  and  his  family  always 
bore  in  mind  the  location  of  that  massacre,  and  marked  it  by  the 
cottonwood  trees,  which,  strange  to  say,  have  stood  unharmed  in 
the  middle  of  the  street  to  this  day." 

The  above  facts  I  communicated  to  the  Historical  Society  soon 
after  Mrs.  Kinzie's  death,  and  believe  through  them  was  the  means 
of  preventing  the  cutting  down  of  the  old  tree,  which  the  citizens 
of  the  South  Side  had  voted  to  be  a  nuisance.  I  sincerely  hope 
something  may  be  done  to  fence  in  and  preserve  so  valuable  a  relic 
and  reminder  of  one  of  the  most  sad  and  interesting  events  in  the 
life  of  Chicago. 

Believe  me,  sir,  yours  most  respectfully, 

Mrs.  Henry  W.  King. 

IvETTKR    FROM    HON.  ISAAC    N.  ARNOLD. 

Chicago,  January  25,  18S4. 
Captain  A.  T.  Andreas. 

Dear  sir: — I  have  your  note  of  this  morning,  asking  me  to 
state  what  I  know  relating  to  the  massacre  at  Chicago  in  1812.  I 
came  to  Chicago  in  October,  1836  ;  the  Fort  Dearborn  reservation 
then,  and  for  several  years  afterward,  belonged  to  the  government, 
and  there  were  but  a  few  scattering  houses  from  Fort  Dearborn 
south  to  [the  present  location  of]  the  University,  and  between  Mich- 
igan Avenue  and  the  beach  of  Lake  Michigan.  The  sand-hills  near 
the  shore  were  still  standing.  The  family  of  John  H.  Kinzie  was  then 
the  most  prominent  in  Chicago,  and  the  best  acquainted  with  its 
early  history.  From  this  family  and  other  early  settlers,  and  by 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kinzie,  I  was  told  where  the  attack  on  the  soldiers  by 
the  Indians  was  made.  There  were  then  growing  some  cotton- 
wood trees  near  which  I  was  told  the  massacre  occurred.  One  of 
those  trees  i9  still  standing  in  the  street  leading  from  Michigan 
Avenue  to  the  lake  and  not  ver}'  far  from  the  track  of  the  Illinois 
Central  Railway.  This  tree  was  pointed  out  to  me  by  both  Mr. 
and  Mrs  Kinzie,  as  near  the  place  where  the  attack  began.  As  the 
fight  continued,  the  combatants  moved  south  and  went  over  con- 
siderable space.  Mrs.  John  H.  Kinzie  was  a  person  of  clear  and 
retentive  memory  and  of  great  intelligence.  She  wrote  a  full  and 
graphic  history  of  the  massacre,  obtaining  her  facts,  in  part,  from 
eye-witnesses,  and  I  have  no'doubts  of  her  accuracy. 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

Isaac  N,  Arnold. 


APPENDIX  K:    THE  BRONZE  MEMORIAL  GROUP.       209 

Letter  from  A.  J.  Galloway. 

Chicago,  February  8,  1884. 
Captain  A.  T.  Andrkas. 

My  dear  sir: — At  your  request  I  will  state  my  recollections 
concerning  the  cottouwood  tree  in  the  east  end  of  Eighteenth 
Street.  When  I  removed  from  Eldredge  Court  to  the  present  1808 
Prairie  Avenue,  in  1858,  the  tree  was  in  apparent  good  condition, 
though  showing  all  the  marks  of  advanced  age.  The  large  lower 
branches  (since  cutoff),  after  mounting  upward  for  a  time,  curved 
gracefully  downward,  so  that  a  man  riding  under  them  could  have 
readily  touched  their  extremities  with  his  whip  at  a  distance  of 
twenty  or  twenty-five  feet  from  the  body.  From  an  intimate  knowl- 
edge of  the  growth  of  trees,  I  have  no  doubt  but  its  sapling  life 
long  ante-dated  the  time  of  the  massacre  of  the  Fort  Dearborn  gar- 
rison. I  will  venture  the  opinion  that  if  it  were  cut  down  and  the 
stump  subjected  to  a  careful  examination,  it  would  be  found  that 
the  last  two  inches  of  its  growth  cover  a  period  of  fifty  years  at 
least.  Yours  truly, 

A.  J.  Galloway. 

To  these  highly  convincing  letters,  Captain  Andreas 
adds  verbal  testimony  as  follows  : 

Charles  Harpell,  an  old  citizen,  now  living  on  the  North  Side, 
says  that  as  far  back  as  he  can  refnember  this  locality  was  known 
as  "the  Indian  battle-ground;"  that  years  ago,  when  a  boy,  he 
with  others  used  to  play  there  (the  place,  from  its  very  associa- 
tions, having  the  sf  rongest  attractions)  and  hunt  in  the  sand  for 
beads  and  other  little  trinkets,  which  they  were  wont  to  find  in 
abundance.  Mr.  Harpell  relates,  also,  that  he,  while  playing  there 
one  day,  found  an  old  single-barreled  brass  pistol,  which  he  kept 
for  many  years. 

Mrs.  Mary  Clark  Williams,  whose  father,  H.  B.  Clark,  purchased 
in  1833,  the  land  on  which  the  tree  now  stands,  says  that  nearly 
fifty  years  ago  she  played  under  the  old  cottonwood,  and  that  it  was 
then  a  large  and  thrifty  tree.  In  1840  an  old  Indian  told  her  that 
the  massacre  occurred  on  that  spot. 

On  the  same  branch  of  the  subject,  and  in  absolute 
conformation  of  the  Clark  testimony,  see  the  following 
letter,  later  than  the  other,  which  I  am  glad,  to  be  able  to 
give  as  ' '  the  conclusion  of  the  matter. ' ' 

Aspen,  Colorado,  March  15,  1890. 
Editor  of  the  Tribune: 

I  notice  your  interesting  article  on  the  subject  of  the  Chicago 
Massacre  of  1812.  I  was  born  on  what  is  now  Michigan  Avenue 
(then  a  farm)  and  within  1,200  feet  of  this  awful  affair.  Your 
article  is  in  the  main  correct,  though  not  exactly  so  as  regards  the 
tree  at  the  foot  of  Eighteenth  Street.  This  was  one  of  a  grove, 
consisting  of  perhaps  fifty  to  seventy-five  large  cottonwoods,  ex- 
tending from  a  little  north  of  Sixteenth  to  a  little  south  of  Eight- 


210  THE    CHICAGO    MASSACRE   OF    l8l2. 

eenth  Street.  Almost  in  the  center  of  this  grove — I  think  the 
exact  location  would  be  two  hundred  and  fifty  to  three  hundred 
feet  north  of  Eighteenth  Street,  on  the  east  end  of  Wirt  Dexter's 
lot — stood  a  "clump"  of  eight  or  nine  trees.  .  .  . 

The  sand-hills  extended  from  about  where  the  Illinois  Central 
round-house  now  is  south  to  about  Twenty-Fifth  Street.  They  were 
covered  with  low  cedar  trees,  ground  pine,  and  sand  cherry  bushes, 
together  with  a  perfect  mat  of  sand  prickers,  to  which  the  soles  of 
our  feet  often  gave  testimony  when  in  swimming.  The  old  ceme- 
tery, where  many  of  the  old  settlers  were  buried,  was  located  near 
Twenty-Second  Street  and  Calumet  Avenue.  I  think  the  McAvoy 
brewery  stands  about  the  centre  of  it. 

I  sincerely  hope  something  will  be  done  to  commemorate  this 
awful  affair  and  perpetuate  the  memory  of  our  ancestors,  who 
fought  the  Indians,  the  fleas  and  the  ague  to  make  so  grand  and 
beautiful  a  city  as  Chicago. 

Robert  G.  Clarke. 

So  much  for  the  place  selected  for  the  bronze  group, 
now  for  the  work  itself. 

Carl  Rohl-Smith,  a  Danish  sculptor  who  had  already 
won  distinction  in  Europe  and  in  America,  and  who  came 
to  Chicago  under  the  strong  attraction  which  the  prepa- 
ration of  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition  offered  for 
all  artists,  won  notice  and  praise  by  his  statue  of  Frank- 
lin, cast  for  the  entrance  of  the  Electrical  building.  This 
work  pleased  those  interested  highly,  and  the  sculptor 
was  invited  to  prepare  the  model  for  a  group  to  commemo- 
rate the  Fort  Dearborn  Massacre  of  1812.  Mr.  Rohl- 
Smith,  by  the  help  of  his  accomplished  wife,  made  a 
study  of  the  historical  facts  connected  with  the  event,  and 
naturally  concluded  that  Black  Partridge  saving  the  life 
of  Mrs.  Helm  was  the  portion  of  the  sad  story  which 
presented  the  most  picturesque,  dramatic  and  artistic 
features  for  reproduction.  To  this  he  added  the  killing 
of  Surgeon  VanVoorhees,  which  Mrs.  Helm  details  almost 
in  the  same  breath  with  the  story  of  her  own  experience. 
The  study,  when  completed  in  clay,  won  the  approval  of 
all  observers  (this  acceptance  being  fortified  by  the  warm 
admiration  the  group  elicited  from  the  best  art-critics  to 
whom  it  was  submitted),  and  orders  were  at  once  given 
for  the  work  ;  to  be  in  bronze  and  of  heroic  proportions  ; 
the  figure  group  to  be  nine  feet  high,  set  on  a  granite 
pedestal  ten  feet  high. 

Mr.  Rohl-Smith  set  himself  to  work  with  the  utmost 
diligence.  Fortune  favored  him  ;  for  there  happened  to 
be  just  then  some  Indians  of  the  must  untamed  sort  at 


APPENDIX  K:    GEORGE  MORTIMER  PULLMAN.  211 

Fort  Sheridan  (only  a  few  miles  away),  in  charge  of  the 
garrison  as  prisoners  of  war,  they  having  been  captured 
in  the  Pine  Ridge  disturbance  whereof  the  affair  of 
Wounded  Knee  creek  was  the  chief  event.  By  General 
Miles's  permission,  Mr.  Rohl-Smith  was  allowed  to  select 
two  of  these  red-men  to  stand  as  models  for  the  principal 
savage  figures  of  the  group.  The  two  best  adapted  were 
"Kicking  Bear"  and  "Short  Bull."  Concerning  them 
Mr.  Rohl-Smith  says  : 

Kicking  Bear  is  the  best  specimen  of  physical  manhood  I  have 
ever  critically  examined.  He  is  a  wonderful  man  and  seems  to 
enjoy  the  novelty  of  posing,  besides  evidently  having  a  clear  un- 
derstanding of  the  use  to  which  his  figure  will  be  put.  The  assail- 
ant of  Mrs.  Helm,  the  one  with  the  uplifted  tomahawk  [Short 
Bull]  fills  the  historical  idea  that  the  assailant  was  a  "young" 
Indian,  naturally  one  who  would  not  be  as  fully  developed  as  the 
vigorous,  manly  chief,  Black  Partridge.  The  presence  of  these 
Indians  has  been  of  great  value  to  me  in  producing  the  figures.  I 
have  been  enabled  to  bring  out  some  of  their  characteristics  not 
otherwise  possible. 

The  savages  were  accompanied  by  an  interpreter,  and 
the  newspapers  of  the  day  gave  some  amusing  accounts 
of  their  demeanor  in  the  studio  ;  their  mixture  of  docility 
and  self-assertion,  etc.  It  chanced  that  the  real  disposi- 
tions of  the  two  principal  models  were  the  reverse  of  their 
assumed  characters  ;  and  Kicking  Bear  (who,  when  wear- 
ing his  native  dress  and  war-paint,  carried  a  string  of  six 
scalps  as  part  of  his  outfit),  was  much  amused  at  the  fact 
that  he  was  assigned  the  more  humane  part.  "Me,  good 
Injun  !  "  he  cried  ;  "him  bad  Injun  !  "  And  he  laughed 
loudly  at  the  jest. 

The  four  faces  of  the  granite  pedestal  bear  appropriate 
bas-reliefs  cast  in  bronze.  The  front  (south-west)  shows 
the  fight  itself;  the  opposite  side  represents  the  train — 
troops,  wagons,  etc. — leaving  the  fort  ;  one  end  gives  the 
scene  when  Black  Partridge  delivered  up  his  medal  to  Cap- 
tain Heald,  and  the  opposite  end  the  death  of  the  heroic 
Wells. 

The  various  scenes  bear  descriptive  inscriptions  ;  and 
on  the  North-West  face  is  the  dedication,  as  follows  : 


Presented  May,  1893,  to  the 

Chicago  Historical  Society,  in  Trust  for  the 

City  of  Chicago  and  for  Posterity. 


2L2 


fHE    CHICAGO   MASSACRE   OE    l8l2. 


The  group  stands  on  the  scene  of  the  fight,  just  one 
hundred  and  twenty  feet  east  of  the  "  Massacre  tree" 
spoken  of  in  chapter  vn,  and  earlier  in  this  appendix. 
Its  position  is  admirable  in  the  artistic  point  of  view  as 
well  as  in  the  historical,  for  it  occupies  the  eastern  ex- 
tremity of  Eighteenth  Street  and  the  northern  of  Calumet 
Avenue  ;  separated  from  Lake  Michigan  only  by  the  right 
of  way  of  the  Illinois  Central  railway.  The  hillocks 
which  shielded  the  Indians  in  making  their  attack  have 
been  leveled  down,  but  their  sandy  base  forms  an  admir- 
able foundation  for  the  massive  pedestal,  which  may  well 
keep  its  place,  unmoved,  for  a  thousand  years. 


Q/^flfc^ 


INDEX 


Abbott,  Dr.  Lucius;  49. 
Agency  House;  48,  67,  79,  192. 
Ah-mah-qua-za  quah;  35,  173. 
Allen,  Colonel;  109. 
American  Fur  Co.;  65,  164. 
Anderson,  Capt.  Thomas  C. ;  66. 
Andreas,    Capt.    A.    T.   quoted; 
152,  162,  165, 167,  170,  216-218 
Andrews,  Presley;  146,  150. 
Arnold,  Hon.  I.  N.;  148-149,  217. 
Artaguiette;  124. 
Astor's  Fur  Co. ;  56,  65,  164. 
Atwater,  Major;  113,  114. 

B. 

Baker,  B'vt  Major  D.;  144. 

Bates,  Eli,  126. 

Battles,  Joe;  62. 

Baxley,  Virginia;  194. 

Beaubien,  Alex.;  121,  194. 

Beaubien,  J.  B.;  169. 

Beck  with,  H.  W.;  168. 

Bisson,  Mrs.;  45,  46. 

Black  Bird;  40,  180. 

Black  Hawk;  32. 

Black   Partridge;   29,  30,  44  46, 

90,  104,  220. 
Black  Partridge  Medal;  91. 
Blauchard,  Rufus;  67,  158-161. 
Block-House;  120. 
Block-House  Tablet;  125,  126. 
Blodgett,  Hon.  H.  W.;  189,  192. 
Bo  wen,  Joseph;  118. 
Braddock's  Defeat;  61. 
Bradley,  Capt.  H.;  144. 


British  and  Indians;  ?>0,  77-79. 
Brock,  Gen.;  78. 
Bronze  Group;  29,  220,  221. 
Brown,  Maj.  Gen.;  145. 
Bunker  Hill,  Battle  of;  107. 
Burgoyne,  Gen.;  58,  135. 
Burman  (soldier);  146. 
Burnett,  Geo.;  146,  150. 
Burns,  John  and  family;  72,  80, 

103. 
Burns,  Robert;  134. 
Butterfield,  Justin;  148. 


Cahokia;  138. 

Caldwell,  Billy  (Sauganash);  46, 

47,  201,  202. 
Callis,  Mrs.;  48. 
Calumet  Club;  35. 
Calumet  Lake;  55. 
Cass.  Lewis;  33,  167,  168. 
Caton,  Hon.  J.  D.;  114,  152,  203- 

206. 
Caton,  Laura  Sherrill;  205. 
Chandounais;  37,  38,  42,  43,  97, 

102. 
Chetlain,  Mrs.  Gen.;  180. 
Chicago;    passim;    see  table  of 

contents. 
Chicago  in  1812  and  in  1892;  95. 
Chicago,  the  name;  54. 
Chicago,  Treaty  of;  47. 
Clark,  Elizabeth;  159. 
Clark,  Geo.  Rogers;  53,  54,  135. 
Clark,  H.  B.;  218. 
Clark,  John  K. ;  159. 


213 


214 


INDEX. 


Clarke,  Robert  G.;  220. 
Cleaver,  Charles;  121. 
Cly bourn,  Archibald;  160. 
Clybourn,  Jonas;  160. 
Cobweb  Castle;  48,  192. 
Conflict  of  Authorities;  83,  84,  87. 
Confute  Indians;  116. 
Cooper,  Isabella;  197-9. 
Cooper,  John,  Surg.  Mate;  149, 

150. 
Corbin,  James;  118,  146,  150. 
Corbin,  Phelim;  20, 118,  146, 150. 
Corbin,  Sukey;  20,  48,  119. 
Cummings,  Maj.  Alex.;  144. 
Custer  slaughter;  33. 

D. 

Dearborn,  Fort;  see  Fort  Dear- 
born. 

Dearborn,  Gen.  Henry;  57,  143. 

Debou  (Frenchman);  72. 

Defence,  possible;  192. 

DePeyster,  Col.  A.  S.;  53;  56, 
134-136. 

De  Peyster,  J.  Watts;  134. 

Du  Pin,  Madame;  104. 

Durantaye;  155. 

Dyer,  Dyson;  118,  146,  150. 


Eastman,  Lieut.  J.  L.;  113,  114. 
Eastman,  Jonathan,  Paymaster; 

189. 
Edson,  Nathan;  118,  150. 
Edwards,  J.  H.;  176-7,  197  9. 
Edwards,  Maria  (Heald);  183. 
English  employment  of  Indians; 

77-79. 
"Epeconier;"  35,  36. 
Erie  Canal;  210. 
Evacuation   of  Fort  Dearborn; 

81,  88. 


Farnum,  Isabella  (Cooper);  197. 

Fergus  Hist.  Series,  quoted;  68( 
120,  151,  152,  168. 

Fergus,  Robert;  190. 

Fergus,  Scott;  190,  191. 

Fersou,  Julia,  152. 

Forsyth,  Geo.;  158. 

Forsyth,  Robert;  158,  167. 

Forsyth,  Thomas;  158,  162,  166. 

Forsyth,  William;  157. 

Fort  Chartres;  133. 

Fort  Dearborn,  passim\  see  ta- 
ble of  contents. 

Fort  Dearborn,  Records  of;  143- 
150. 

Fort  Dearborn  Verses;  127-129. 

Fort  George,  Canada;  102. 

Fort  Maiden,  Canada;  109. 

Fort  Meigs,  Canada;  109. 

Frangois,  half-breed;  100. 

Franklin,  Statue  of;  220. 

Free  Masonry;  98,  178. 

Freer,  Dr.  Otto;  191,  195. 

French  Period;  53. 

Fry,  Col.;  172. 

Fury,  John;  146,  150. 

G. 

Galloway,  A.  J.;  218. 
Gardner's      Military      History. 

quoted;  151. 
George  III;  79,  84,  135. 
Gilbert,  Mary  Ann;  173. 
Glamorgan;  137. 
Gordon,  Mrs.  Nellie  Kinzie;  171. 
Grade  of  streets  changed;  210. 
Grant,  Gen.  U.  S.;  155. 
Great  Fire;  213,  214. 
Green,  Capt.  John;  144. 
Greenville,  Treaty  of ;  47,  54,  57, 

90,  155,  159. 


INDEX. 


215 


Griffith,  Quartermaster;  100. 
Griggs,  James  Wells;  173. 
Grignon,  Augustiu;  139. 
Grummond,  Paul;  118,  146,  150. 
"Grutte;"  24. 
Guarie  River;  57. 

H. 

Hackleys,  Ann  and  John;  173. 
Haines,  Hon.  John  C.;121,  192, 

194,  195. 
Hall,  Benjamin;  160. 
Hall,  David;  160. 
Hall,  Eugene;  127. 
Hallam,  Rev.  Mr.;  194. 
Halliburton,  Mrs.;  157. 
Hamilton,  Gen.;  135. 
Hardscrabble;  71,  105. 
Harmer,  Gen.;  174. 
Harpell,  Charles;  218. 
Harrison,  W.    H.;  44,   65,    107, 

109,  201. 
Hays,  Sergeant;  105. 
Hayti,  Island  of;  137. 
Heald  family;  173-183. 
Heald,    Hon.     Darius;  passim; 

see  table  of  contents. 
Heald  manuscript  lost;  99. 
Heald,  Captain  Nathan;  passim; 

see  table  of  contents. 
Heald,   Rebekah    (Wells);  pas- 
sim; see  table  of  contents. 
Heald,  Rebekah,  quoted;  31-38, 

69,  83,  93,  97-99. 
Helm,  Lieut.  Linai  T.;   23,   33, 

39,  41,  48,  49,  162,  181. 
Helm,   Margaret;    passim;    see 

table  of  contents. 
Helm,    Margaret,    quoted;    see 

Wau-Bun. 
Hennepin;  133. 
Henry,  Patrick;  135. 


Hispauiola;  137. 

Historical  Society;  29,   45,    165, 

191. 
Hooker,  J.  Lewis;  121. 
Hosmer,  Dr.  A.  B.;  191,  195. 
House-raising;  209,  210. 
Hoyt,  William  M. ;  127. 
Hubbard,    G.    S.;  57,    167,   169, 

170,  188. 
Hull,  Gen.;  78,  80,  93,  114,  118, 

180, 
Hunt  family,  the;  199. 
Hunter,  Gen.  David;  23. 
Hnrlbut's  Antiquities;  54,  58;  62, 

148,  154,  155,  162,  167. 

I. 

Indians;    passim;   see   table  of 

contents. 
Indian  Agency;  62,  63. 
Indian  Atrocities;  38. 
Indian  Group,  (Ryerson's);  126, 
Indian  Treaties;  165. 

J. 

Jackson'  Andrew;  107. 
Jackson,  Samuel;  194. 
Jamison,  Capt. ;  194. 
Jefferson,  President;  57. 
Jerked  beef;  85. 
Johnston,  John;  175. 
Jones,  Fernando;  121,  192-195. 
Jones,  R.  Adjt.  Gen.;  145,  146. 
Jordan,  Walter;  116-118. 
Jouett,  Charles,  48,  61,  62. 

K. 

Kaskaskia;  133,  138. 
Keamble,  (soldier);  146. 
Kee-gee-kaw  or  swift-goer;  66. 
Kee-po-tah;  44,  100,  102,  112. 
Kickapoos;  116. 


216 


INDEX. 


Kicking  Bear;  221. 
King,  Mrs.  Henry  W. ;  217. 
Kingsbury,  Col.  Jacob;  149. 
Kingston,  John  T.;  138. 
Kinzie    family;    23,    46,   61,   68, 

100,  120,  157-170. 
Kinzie  House;  19,  44,  46,  61,  64, 

73,  80,  111,  167. 
Kinzie,  John;  passim;  see  table 

of  contents. 
Kinzie,    Mrs.  John;  23,   42,   61, 

165. 
Kinzie,  John  Harris;  23,  61;  161, 

164,  165,  171,  194. 
Kinzie,  Mrs.  John  Harris;  21,  28, 

42,  82,  120,  163,  171,  216. 
Kinzie,  John  Harris  Jr. ;  171,  172; 
Kinzie,  Ellen  Marion;  23,  170. 
Kinzie,  Maria  Indiana;  23. 
Kinzie,  Robert  Allen;  23,  167. 
Kinzie,  Mrs.  Robert  Allen;  153, 

170,  194. 
Knowles,  Joseph;  118. 


Laframboise,  Josette;  24. 
Laframboise,  Pierre;  121,  194. 
La  Geuness,  J.  B.;  65. 
Lake  Erie,  battle  of;  109,  110. 
Lalime,  John;  70,  80,  163,  185. 
La  Salle,  Robert  Cavelier;  53,  54, 

126,  133,  134. 
Latrobe,  John  Joseph;  203. 
Law,  John,  133,  138. 
Lawe,  Judge  John;  65. 
Leclerc,  Peresh;  30,  39. 
Lee's  place  and  family;   70-72, 

80,  104,  105. 
Le  Mai;  57,  60,  137,  155. 
Liber  Scriptorum;  133-141. 
Lincoln,  Hon.  Robert;  68,  143. 
Little  Belt,  Sloop;  110. 


Little  Turtle  (Me-che-kan  nah- 
quah);  32,  35,  55,  173-177. 

Locker,  Frederick;  146,  150. 

L<  gan,  Hugh;  119,  150. 

Lord  Liverpool's  Government; 
78,  79. 

Lundy's  Lane,  battle  of;  107. 

Lynch,  Michael;  146,  150. 

M. 

Macomb,  Mr.;  112. 
Mackinaw;  53,  80,  102,  103. 
Mad  Anthony;  see  Wayne. 
Maguago,  battle  of;  155. 
Main  Poc;  187. 

Marquette;  53,  54,  71,  105,  133. 
Mason,  E.  G.;49,  138. 
Massacre;  19-50  and  passim. 
Massacre  tree;  33,  113,  216-219. 
McCagg,  Ezra;  192. 
McComb,  Maj.  Gen  ;  146. 
McCoy,  Isaac;  63. 
McCrea,  Miss  Jane;  135. 
McKee,  Col.;  100. 
McKenzie,  Elizabeth;  158,  159. 
McKenzie,  Isaac;  159. 
McKenzie,  John;  157. 
McKenzie,    Margaret;  158,  159 

163,  164. 
McKillop,  Eleanor;  160,  161. 
McKillop,  Margaret;  161. 
McNeil,  Col.  J. ;  144. 
McPherson,  Hugh;  146,  150. 
Me-che-kan-nah-qua;  32,  35,  55, 

173. 
Miami  Indians;  20,  24,  25-27,  89, 

92,  116,  180. 
Militia-men;  23,  38,  40. 
Mi'ller,  Samuel;  161. 
Mills,  Elias;  118,  146. 
Minnawack  or  Mill-wack-ee;  66, 

103. 


INDEX. 


217 


Mirandeau,  Victoire;  189. 
Morfitt,  William;  146,  150. 
Mott,  August;  119,  150. 
Mound  City  (gunboat);  171. 
Munsell's   History,   quoted;  45. 
63,  67,  71,  80,  82. 

N. 

Napoleonic  years;  63. 
Nau-non-gee;  77,  105. 
Neads,    John,    wife   and   child; 

119,  150. 
Nelson  (soldier);  119. 
Ne  scot-nee-meg;  45. 
New  Orleans,  battle  of,  107. 
Niles  Register,  quoted;  103,  113, 

115,  116,  118,  180. 
Noble,  Mark;  170. 
No-ke-no-qua,  Miss;  187. 
Nourse,  Charles  J.;  145. 

o. 

O'Fallon,  Col.;  37,  178. 
O'Fallon,  Mo.;  38,  99,  178. 
O'Strander,  Philip;  149,  150. 
Ottawas;  77. 
Ouillemette;  19,  45,  46,  57,  155. 


Parc-aux-vaches;  23,  115,  166. 
Patterson,  Mr.;  109. 
Pee-so-tum;  30,  41,  142. 
Pe-me-sah-quah;  173. 
Perry,  Commodore;  107,  110. 
Peterson   (soldier);  146. 
Pettell,  M.;  80,  155. 
Plattsburgh  paper,  quoted;  103. 
Pointe  de  Saible,  J.   B. ;  44,  53, 

55-57,  60,  133-141,  157,  166. 
Pope,  Nathaniel;  173. 
Porthier,    Victoire    Mirandeau; 

189,  190. 


Pottowatomies;  24,  25-27,  30,  40, 
44,  46,  57,  88,  103,  123,  166. 

Proctor,  Gen.;  IOi,  108,  115,  119. 

Posterity  of  Pioneers;  John 
Whistler,  John  Kinzie,  Will- 
iam Wells  and  Nathan  Heald; 
see  appendix  C,  D  and  E. 

Put-in-bay;  107,  114. 


Queen    Charlotte,      (schooner); 
113.  114. 


Relics  recovered;  178 
Reveille;  19. 
Roberts,  Capt;  181. 
Robinson,  Chief;  63,  101. 
Rohl-Smith,  Carl;  29,  220,  221. 
Ronan,  Lieut.   George;   22,    28, 
33,  40,  70,  82,  83,144,  146,  181. 
Round  Head;  201. 
Rumsey,  Julian;  201. 
Russell  family;  80. 
Ryerson,  Martin;  126. 
Ryswick,  treaty  of;  137. 


vSand-dunes;  25;  29,  31,  18Q. 
Sauganash,  the;  46,  47,  201,  202. 
Scalped  girl;  197. 
Scott,  Winfield;  107. 
Senat,  Jesuit;  124. 
Shaubena;  138,  139,  202. 
Shaw-nee-aw-kie,  (Silversmith) ; 

68,  109,  158. 
Shawnee  Indians;  77,  201. 
ShearTe,  Col.;  102. 
Sheridan,  Mrs.  Gen.;  152. 
Short  Bull;  221. 
Skeletons  juried;  120,  121. 
vSkeleton  in  Hist.  Society;  186. 
Sleeping-car  system;  212-214. 


218 


INDEX. 


Smith,  John;  146,  150. 

St.  Ange;  124. 

St.  Clair,  Governor;  140,  174. 

St.  Cosme;  133. 

St.  Domingo;  137. 

St.  James'  Church;  194. 

St.  Joseph's;  23,  59,  98,  100-102. 

Stuart,  David;  164. 

Swearingen,  Col.  James  S.;  58. 

Sword  of  Capt.  Heald;  99. 


Tanner,  Dr.  H.  B.;  65. 
Taylor,  Augustus;  172. 
Tecumseh;  32,  47,  106,  201. 
Thames,  battle  of;  107. 
Thompson,  Lieut.;  194. 
Tippecanoe,  battle  of;  44,  74,  77. 
Tonti;  54,  133. 
To-pee-nee-be;    24,    25,  27,  63, 

100,  102. 
Torture  of  wounded   prisoners; 

38,  43,  98. 
Toussaiut  L'Ouverture;  138,  139. 
"Tracy,"  schooner;  59,  67,  155. 
Tree,  Lambert;  126; 

V. 

Van  Home,  James;  118, 146,  150. 
Van  Voorhees,  Dr.  Isaac;  28,  33, 

40,  144,  181,  220. 
Vinseune;  124. 

w. 

Wabash  Indians;  44. 
Wabash  River;  144. 
Waggoner,  Anthony  L.;  150. 
WTah-bee-nee-mah;  30. 
Walk-in-the-water;  201. 
Wa-nan-ga-peth;  35,  173, 
War-dance;  203. 


War  of  1812;  80. 
Washington,  President;  175, 
Wau-ban-see;  41,  44. 
Waubansa  stone;  147,  148. 
Wau-bin-she-way;  48. 
Wau-Bun,  quoted;  21,  23,  28,  31, 

39,  41,  42,   44,  45,   62,   71,   72, 

80,  82,  85,  86,   88,  90,  99-106, 

108-110,  137,  186. 
Wayne,  Gen.  Anthony;  47,  55, 

56,  175,  202. 
Webster,  Daniel;  148. 
Weem-te-gosh ;  100. 
Wells  family;  173-183. 
Wells,  Rebekah;  69,  70,  173. 
Wells,  Samuel;  36,  37,  69,99, 173. 
Wells,    William;    passim;    see 

table  of  contents. 
Wells  Street;  35. 
Wentworth,  John;  68,  151,  152. 
Whisky;  63,  87,  88. 
Whistler  family;  151-156. 
Whistler,  John;  58-61,  66,  69. 
Whistler,  John  Jr.;  162. 
Whistler,  Major  Geo.  W.;  152, 
Whistler,  William;  58,  59. 
Whistler,  Mrs.  Wm.;  59,  60,  61. 
White  Elk;  48. 
White,  Liberty;  71. 
Williams,  Mrs.  Mary  Clark;  118. 
Wilmette;  57. 

Wiunebagoes;  77,  88,  116,  167. 
Winnemeg;  41,  80,  81. 
Wolcott,  Alexander;  165,  169. 
Wolcott,  Henry  Clay;  173. 
Wolcott,    James    Madison;    35, 

173,  177. 
Wolcott,  William  Wells;  173. 
Women  and  Children;  40,  49,  64. 
Wood,  Alonzo  C. ;  194. 
Woodward,  Augustus  B. ;  49. 
Wounded  for  torture;  38,  43,  98. 


DIBBLE  PUBLISHING  CO., 

334  Dearborn  Street, 

CHICAGO. 


MAJOR  KIRKLAND'S  FIVE  BOOKS. 


Historical  Works  : 

THE  STORY  OF  CHICAGO.     Cloth,  $3.50;  Half  Morocco,  $5.00; 
Full  Morocco,  Gilt  Edged,  $7.00. 

THE  CHICAGO  MASSACRE  OF  18 12.    Paper,  50  cts.  Cloth,  $1.00 

Novels : 

ZURY,  THE  MEANEST  MAN  IN  SPRING  COUNTY.      Paper, 
50  cts.;  Cloth,  #1.50. 

THE  McVEYS,  AN  EPISODE.     Cloth,  $1.25. 

THE  CAPTAIN  OF  COMPANY  K.     Illustrated.     Paper,  50  cts.; 
Cloth,  $1.00. 

Each  of  the  above  books  sent,  carriage  free,  on  the  receipt  of 
the  price  named.     All  three  of  the  novels,  in  cloth,  for  $3.00. 


The  two  histories  are  devoted  to  a  topic  which  the 
whole  world  agrees  to  consider,  on  the  whole,  the  most 
interesting  of  all  now  offered  for  its  attention,  namely,  the 
young  giant  of  the  West : — Chicago. 

The  last  named,  "The  Chicago  Massacre  of  1812,"  is 
here,  within  these  covers,  to  speak  for  itself.  The  first 
named,  "  The  Story  of  Chicago,"  has  been  published  for 
about  a  year,  meeting  a  success  without  parallel  among 
the  books  on  this  subject. 

The  publishers  have  received  (beside  hundreds  of  favor- 
able reviews)  the  following  eloquent  personal  letters, 
worth  many  ordinary  critiques : 

219 


WHAT   THE   FOUR 


OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES, 
LOUISA   CHANDLER  MOULTON, 
FRANCES   E.  WILLARD, 
EDMUND   C.  STEDMAN, 

HAVE   TO  SAY  ABOUT 

THE  STORY  OF  CHICAGO: 

Boston,  March  19,  1892. 
My  Dear  Mr.  Dibble: 

I  have  waited  a  few  days  to  become  acquainted  with  your  beauti- 
ful book,  "The  Story  of  Chicago."  It  is  iudeed  a  story  worth 
telling,  and  I  thank  you  most  heartily  for  giving  me  the  oppor- 
tunity of  reading  it  and  the  privilege  of  placing  it  upon  my  shelves. 

They  used  to  tell  us  that  the  age  of  miracles  had  passed,  but  few 
recorded  miracles  compare  with  the  wonder  of  this  great  city, 
springing  up  like  a  mushroom  and  hardening  and  spreading  its 
branches  until  it  stands  like  a  mighty  oak,  king  of  the  forest,  with 
the  promise  of  countless  ages  before  it. 

I  have  had  great  pleasure  in  looking  at  the  splendid  architectural 
monuments  as  they  are  figured  in  your  pages.  I  have  looked  with 
the  deepest  interest  on  the  portraits  of  the  men  who  have  wrought 
all  these  marvels,  and  I  only  wish  that  I  could  promise  myself  the 
delight  of  beholding  Chicago  as  she  will  appear  in  her  more  than 
royal  robes  when  the  world  is  flocking  to  look  at  her,  the  Empress 
City  of  the  West;  it  may  be,  by  and  by,  of  the  Continent. 
I  am,  dear  sir,  Very  truly  yours, 

Oliver  Wendell  Holmes. 

22  Rutland  Square,  1 

Boston,  Mass.,  April  11,  1892.  J 
Dear  Mr.  Dibble  : 

I  have  delayed  to  thank  you  for  "  The  Story  of  Chicago  "  until 
I  could  find  time  to  make  myself  thoroughly  familiar  with  it;  and 
I  can  now  say,  without  hesitation,  that  it  has  interested  me  more 
than  any  other  story  of  a  town  that  I  have  ever  read. 

I  congratulate  you  on  having  secured  as  its  author  so  accomp- 
lished a  writer  as  Major  Kirkland,  whose  novels  are  a  memorable 
delight,  and  who  proves  himself,  in  this  fascinating  "Story  of 
Chicago,"  no  less  successful  as  a  historian. 

Your  very  numerous  and  beautiful  illustrations  add  greatly  to 
the  value  of  the  book;  and  surely  this  Story,  (which  reads  like  a 
chapter  of  miracles,)  is  a  contribution  to  American  history  of 
which  no  one  can  afford  to  be  ignorant 

Yours  verv  sincerely, 

Louise  Chandler  Moulton. 
220 


Rest  Cottage,  "I 

Evanston,  111.,  June  23,  1892.  j 
The  Dibble  Publishing  Co., 

Chicago,  111. 
Kind  Friends  : — "  The  Story  of  Chicago  "  is  Major  Kirkland's 
masterpiece.  He  has  comprehended  what  envious  New  York  has 
called  the  "Windy  City,"  but  which  is  in  reality  the  Magic  City, 
not  only  of  America  but  of  the  world.  Whoever  helps  to  put  this 
book  under  eyes  that  have  not  been  blessed  by  its  fair,  inspiring 
pages  and  choice  photogravures  has  helped  to  increase  the  sum  of 
human  happiness,  for  as  the  brain  of  man  is  creation's  masterpiece 
so  Chicago  is  the  planet's  whispering  gallery  of  whatever  is  most 
hopeful,  progressive  and  inspiring  to  humanity.  Her  history  is  the 
epic  of  the  Great  Lakes  and  the  wonder-book  of  the  prairies.  Long 
may  its  crisp  pages  rustle  in  the  breeze. 

Frances  E.  Wizard. 

137  West  78th  Street, 
New  York,  July  12th,  1892. 
Dear  Mr.  Dibble  : 

When  you  prevailed  upon  Major  Kirkland  to  write  the  "Story 
of  Chicago."  you  displayed  once  more  your  acumen.  You  induced 
the  brilliant  author  of  "  Zury  "  to  forego  his  imaginative  work  for 
a  while,  and  to  devote  his  talent  to  the  narration  of  an  "  o'er  true 
tale  " — a  tale,  however,  as  strange  and  absorbing  as  any  romance. 
I  know  he  will  get  his  reward,  and  I  hope  you  will  get  yours. 

But  let  me  compliment  you,  heartily,  upon  the  book  itself,  and 
upon  the  liberality  and  taste  with  which  you  have  illustrated  it. 
Every  American  is  proud  of  Chicago,  of  her  history,  her  great 
ambition,  her  financial  and  intellectual  progress.  Her  record  is 
faithfully  set  forth  in  your  handsome  volume.  Whoever  designs 
to  visit  Chicago  and  the  Columbian  Exposition  should  own  and 
thoroughly  read  "  The  Story." 

Ever  sincerely  yours, 

Edmund  C.  Stedman. 


Following  the  good  practice  of  '  'letting  other  men  do 
the  talking,"  here  are  some  of  the  countless  public  praises 
which  came  crowding  in  after  the  publication  of  each  of 
the  three  novels: 


221 


KIRKLAND'S  THREE   NOVELS. 


NK  NOVEL  ("Zury")  tells  of  life  on  Zury's 
farm,  and  another  (ilThe  McVeys")  tells  of 
life  at  Springville  and  early  Chicago,  with 
glimpses  of  Lincoln,  Donglas,  David  Davis, 
etc.,  and  bring  together  Zury  and  Anne  Spar- 
row, the  hero  and  heroine  of  both  novels:  Of 
these  two  books  Hamlin  Garland  in  The 
Boston  Transcript  says: 

"The  full  revelation  of  inexhaustible  wealth  of  native  Ameri- 
can material  .  .  .  will  come  to  the  Eastern  reader  with  the 
reading  of  "Zury"  ....  It  is  as  native  to  Illinois  as  Tolstoi's 
"Anna  Karenina"  and  Torgueniefl's  "Father  and  Sons"  are  to 
Russia,  its  descriptions  are  so  infused  with  real  emotion  and  so 
graphic.  The  book  is  absolutely  unconventional  .  .  .  not  a 
trace  of  the  old-world  literature  or  society, — and  every  character 
is  new  and  native  .  .  .  The  heroine  is  a  Boston  girl,  . 
a  bouncing,  resolute,  und  very  frank  personage,  able  to  care  for 
herself  in  any  place.  The  central  figure  ...  is  Zury.  .  . 
This  a  great  and  consistent  piece  of  character  painting.  .  .  . 
He  fills  the  book  with  his  presence  and  his  inimitable  comments 
upon  life  and  society.  ...  A  man  whose  better  nature 
flowered  late." 

"The  McVeys;  An  Episode,"  has  the  sincerity  of  history, 
and  when  one  reads  it  he  is  in  the  very  atmosphere  of  Spring 
County.  The  surveying  crew,  the  roilroad  building  and  final  jubilee, 
the  lead  mining  all  go  on  under  the  eye.  .  .  .  The  story  of 
Anne  and  her  children  forms  the  connecting  thread  of  a  book  of 
great  power  and  freshness. 

The  War  novel  won  the  first  prize  ($1,600)  in  the 
famous  competition  got  up  by  the  Detroit  Free  Press. 
In  gaining  favorable  notices  it  quite  equalled  its  two 
predecessors. 

' '  The  Captain  of  Company  K. ' '  There  is  nothing  in  the  nature 
of  artistic  writing  within  the  covers  of  'The  Captain  of  Company 
K,"  by  Maj.  Joseph  Kirkland,  nor  is  there  any  of  that  kind  called 
real  because  it  is  ugly,  but  there  is  a  good  story  of  life  in  a  volunteer 
company  in  active  service.  The  hero  is  a  fine  specimen  of  those 
countless  citizens  to  whom  their  country's  need  revealed  their  best 

222 


selves,  and  the  heroine  is  an  admirable  likeness  of  the  girls  of  her 
time.  The  publishers  compare  the  story  to  the  work  of  Tolstoi 
and  De  Maupassant,  which  is  unjust  to  the  author,  whose  mind  is 
as  free  from  Russian  morbidity  as  it  is  of  French  artistic  instinct, 
and,  being  an  American,  he  is  to  be  congratulated  on  both  de- 
ficiencies. It  is  not  the  most  truthful  writers,  or  the  authors  of 
the  most  wholesome  books  who  are  carried  away  by  the  influence 
of  contemporary  foreigners,  any  more  than  it  is  the  manliest  men 
who  imitate  the  social  caprices  of  other  countries.  Maj.  Kirkland 
has  written  an  American  story  for  Americans,  and  has  written  it 
well. — Boston  Herald. 

"The  Captain  of  Company  K,"  by  Joseph  Kirkland,  is  oi:e  of 
the  very  few  later  stories  of  '61  which  cannot  fail  to  interest  every- 
body. To  those  readers  who  are  already  acquainted  with  Mr. 
Kirkland's  "  Zury  "  and  the  McVeys,"  and  they  are  not  a  few, 
"Company  K"  will  be  a  double  treat,  as  it  carries  some  of  the 
characters  he  has  portrayed  in  them  through  the  scene  of  the  great 
rebellion.  The  style  of  the  book  is  clearly  hinted  at  in  its  unique 
dedication  to  "The  surviving  men  of  the  firing  line; who  could  see 
the  enemy  in  front  of  them  with  the  neked  eye,  while  they  would 
have  needed  a  field  glass  to  see  the  history  makers  behind' them." 
The  private's  impressions  of  war,  fcrmedin  the  teeth  of  musketry, 
may  be  of  less  value  to  accurate  history  than  the  view  from  the 
the  epaulette  quarter,  but  for  dramatic  purposes  the  foot  soldier's 
story  is  best,  as  Mr  Kirkland  proves  by  his  success  with  a  military 
novel. — Kingston  (IV.  Y.)  Fr  email. 

I  read  the  story  at  one  sitting,  and  morning  found 
me  closing  the  volume.  You  have  written  a  true  book. 
That  intimate  image  of  certain  phases  of  the  Civil  War, 
which  the  mind's  eye  of  the  soldier  alone  retains,  and 
wrhich,  already  dimmed  by  years,  would  soon  have  been 
blotted  forever,  has  been  caught  and  fixed  in  literature. 
— Major  Henry  A.  Huntington. 


DIBBLE  PUBLISHING  CO., 

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ature, "  "  New  Chambers'  Encyclopedia,"  "  Webster's 
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gent instructors  and  solicitors.  Our  friends,  subscribers, 
solicitors  and  customers  are  cordially  invited  to  make  our 
office  their  headquarters  during  their  stay  at  the  World's 
Fair.     Call  or  address, 

Dibble  Publishing  Co., 

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book.     Sent  by  mail,  postage  paid,  on  receipt  of  10  cents. 

"BUNKER  HILL  TO  CHICAGO." 

BY  MRS.  ELOISE  O.  RANDALL  RICHBERG. 
Is  a  charming  story,  of  interest  from  start  to  finish.  So  cleverly 
is  the  tale  unfolded  there  is  no  point  at  which  to  rest  until  the  end 
is  reached.  The  compassionate  author  closes  on  page  160.  In 
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"FAY  BANNING." 

BY  WILL  J.  BLOOMFIELD. 
Speaks  for  itself  in  a  language  and  style  of  its  own,  drawing  the 
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scenes  of  exquisite  taste  and  ever  changing  variety,  in  so  clear 
and  vivid  a  form  the  reader  is  inclined  to  feel  he  is  really  partici- 
pating in,  and  helping  to  tell  the  story  of  his  adventures  and  those 
of  his  friends  who  are  leading  characters  in  this  beautiful  drama  of 
real  life.  288  pages  handsomely  printed  from  close,  clear  type, 
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"LILY  PEARL   AND  THE    MISTRESS  OF 
ROSED  ALE." 

BY  THE  BLIND  BARD  OF  MICHIGAN. 
This  sweet  singer,  though  blind,  has  so  beautifully  told  the  story 
of ''Lily  Pearl"  that  one  of  our  leading  authors  says  of  her: 
"  Sightless  she  is  not,  for  in  her  the  mind's  eye  is  of  a  brilliancy 
that  seems  to  make  our  mere  physical  vision  useless  by  compar- 
ison. Better  the  soul's  sight  without  eyes,  than  the  eyesight  with- 
out soul."  458  pages  handsomely  illustrated  and  neatly  bound  in 
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224 


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